The Horror of Harry's Horcrux
by Geovanni Luciano
Summary: Harry Potter creates a horcrux and sends it back in time with all his knowledge in the hope to save those he cares about. Potentially a HHr story, but ship could change.
1. Chapter 1

The Horror of Harry's Horcrux

**1. The Probable Problems Performed Perfectly under Polyjuice**

_**En Route to the Burrow**_

The trip from King's Cross Station proved to be completely quiet. During the ride in the Ministry provided vehicle Ronald Bilius Weasley remained deep in thought while reflecting up the events that had transpired upon the platform. He reached up and gingerly brushed his palm across the still swollen jaw line that Hermione had so eagerly and with unbound rage let fly her white-knuckled fist.

He winced in, still, obvious pain as his finger tips just barely touched the bruised skin. He looked on at his sister to find her smirking at him with a knowing look that said that the things had been bloody well mucked up rather thoroughly by his actions, and more of a tribute to his complete and utter lack of tact. Ronald, he now thought introspectively, didn't know when to shut up.

He thought back to the conversation, if you can call it that that occurred before Hermione cried havoc and let fists fly in desperate search to land forcefully upon his person with a mission to simply cause damage. Those hands he saw coming towards him as if in slow motion. While not really the hero type at all, he could only manage to daintily brace for impact which unfortunately resulted in pain. A pain so encompassing that he inadvertently bit his tongue in the process.

"Bloody Hell, Hermione!" He screamed incoherently.

"Don't you dare come near me ever again, Ronald Weasley, without a proper apology that is both sincere and believable. WE ARE THROUGH WITHOUT IT!" She managed to scream at him for the first time and the decibels resonated in his ears causing them to ring for the next ten minutes. He walked away seeing the look of utter disappointment in what he could only assume to be his former best mate's eyes. He had really mucked it up, and there was no denying that. Once Ron decided to muck things up, he was all business. There was no fooling around about it.

An hour and a half later, without so much as a word to anyone else in the car, the quietly pulling up to the front of the Burrow. The four Weasley's quietly gathered the two trunks and trudged into the house. Molly Weasley had only just caught the sight of Hermione laying into her son and was on the verge of giving her a good verbal lashing when the gentle hand of her husband upon her shoulder drew her attention away.

The look of resolve that she found in his eyes told her at once that this was the children's issue not the parents and while she wanted to immediately protest she knew that look to be true. She swallowed hard, before giving Arthur a nod of affirmation that she both understood and would comply with his silent request. She said nothing and had said nothing at all until the entry door to the Burrow which divided those inside from the rest of the world had genuinely separated them.

"The two off you, off you go to your respective rooms and unload those trunks, now." Molly said with a resolve that would not be questioned, before heading off to the kitchen with her husband.

She sat heavily at the table, at her usual place before letting her head fall heavily into her hands. It was mucked. She knew that she had tried the best she could and that having seven children had been a task that she and Arthur had thoroughly enjoyed making, however found to be tasking in and of itself as each of those children came with their own personal trial and tribulations.

Ronald was proud and boisterous as any of her children had been. She had found out just three years prior that he was also flawed with jealousy towards his best mate and for whom she had considered to be the eighth Weasley, Harry James Potter. She resigned herself to know that he had inherited this character flaw from the Prewett line, her side of the family. That year she had been just as easily reactionary to the events that had transposed, but it had been because she could see how enamored her son had been with the young Granger girl.

_**Ginevra's Bedroom – Midnight**_

Ginny Weasley had not been coping very well at all at the break-up. She had quite enjoyed the time that she had spent with Harry Potter. He was everything that she thought a proper boyfriend should be with the exception of his bloody nobility. It had gotten in the way and now they were no longer together. It had been to save her of course, but in deeper thought and further reflection upon the subject of keeping her safe, how was she ever safe?

Ginny hadn't felt safe since she had left home that first year for Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Tom Riddle had seen to that. She sat her remembering all the promises and the sweet words that quickly turned to demands that she didn't quite feel comfortable completing. She hadn't been safe at all.

Ginny looked out her window at the crystal clear night sky which was illuminated by the almost full moon. She allowed her thoughts to drift towards Harry and that brought forth her shame.

Trembling, she allowed her hand to slip underneath the covers as if it had a mind of its own. Lightly her fingers broke underneath the elastic of her panties and trailed towards the folds of moist flesh. She gasps as her thoughts of Harry bring new purpose and quickening skill as her frantic fingers desperately search for release.

"Harry!!!" She manages to scream while bucking her hips frantically against her hand. She collapses into sobs and before long falls into restless sleep.

_**Ronald's Room – Shortly after Midnight**_

Ronald Weasley was having just as much trouble falling asleep. Unfortunately for him he had made the mistake of confessing his feeling to Hermione only moments after they had left the funeral, and just as unfortunate was the rather poor attempt to snog her, which she quickly brushed off and pushed him back rather forcefully.

"_Ronald, I don't feel that way towards you. I thought that I might but after all the bickering that we seem to do…"_

"_Hermione that is just the sign of a good relationship."_

"_A good friendship maybe, but a relationship that is centered on being at constant odds is not healthy, and frankly is not something that I wish to pursue. Honestly Ron, you and I need to be on the same page if we're going to be helping Harry…" _

"_Harry Bloody Potter! It's always about him!" Ron screamed and started pacing back and forth. It was moments like this when he was pacing that it allowed Ronald actually think at the same rate that he did while sitting in front of the chess board. Ronald was not a stupid man whatsoever, but he was ill-applied. He took no effort into his studies and had to be pushed into doing his homework. He looked at Hermione now seeing the guilt in her eyes for just a moment before it immediately changed to a look of superior annoyance._

"_RONALD BILIUS WEASLEY, YOU KNOW AS WELL AS I DO THAT HE NEEDS US AND NOW IS NOT THE TI-…" She was cut off as his lips crashed into hers for a second time. She felt the tip of his tongue push forcefully against her lips and that was it. Calculatingly she opened her mouth, however as his tongue went in search for hers she bit down, hard._

"_BWOODY FUCKIN' HELL! OW!!!!" Ronald managed to scream as bloody spewed from his mouth at the same point._

"_NO MEANS NO, YOU INSENSITIVE ARSE!" She managed to get out just before a resounding crack was heard throughout the Gryffindor common room and a rather red hand print could be clear seen on Ronald Weasley's left cheek. Before he could do anything, she darted towards the girl's staircase. _

_Running as quickly as he could to catch her, he swiped twice and missed as she hit the first step. He managed three steps before the alarm sound and slid down in misery._

"Harry!!!" He heard being screamed from down the hall.

The jealousy still fresh in his mind, Ronald closed his eyes and tried to think of the one person that he thought of at night that managed to calm him down, Hermione. He couldn't think and he needed the same release he heard his sister getting. In frustration Ronald reached his hand under the blanket and gripped his cock, hard. He winced slightly as he began to pull on it. He thought of Hermione's reactions when they kissed, before she bit him. Harder and harder he pulled on it until he managed a grunt and then release. As his sank into sleep his only thought before ignorant bliss was _Harry Bloody Potter._

_**The Burrow – July 30, 1997 9:00 p.m.**_

"Ginny, is it ready or not?" Ron asked frustrated at all the work the two of them had put into the Polyjuice potion. It was a requirement of seventh years to be able to brew it successfully and Ronald had to be prepared. He hadn't heard from Hermione during the entire summer and even though both he and Ginny had sent numerous letters to their prospective love interests, the owls always returned without a reply.

"Yes Ronald, it's ready. Now do you remember the rules that we talked about?" She asked worriedly.

"Do not look at ourselves. No talking. Honestly it's only two rules. You'd think that I'd be daft not to remember."

"Alright. We'll meet up at midnight. Take the potion and then I'll meet you in your room shortly there after." Ginny said, finally shooing him out of the room.

The next three hours Ginny made sure that everything was cleaned and put away. She made sure the caldron was spotless and that all her potion ingredients were put up. Finally she thought that she would have a night of true release.

She looked at the clock seeing that it was finally midnight. She put the vial of potion to her lips, tipped her head back and swallowed. The changes were almost instantaneous. She felt her body shift. He small b-cup breasts swelled to a larger c-cup. She felt her hair change and reached up to feel the mass of curls, knowing full well whom she resembled. Finally she went shot up an additional five inches in height.

_**The Burrow – Ronald's room July 31, 1997 12:01 a.m.**_

Ronald had just taken the potion only a minute ago. The memory of the taste of Polyjuice potion proved to still be accurate, however the changes in his form had been more painful this go round. It was still quite horrid. He shrunk almost eight inches in height and two stones in weight. Momentarily, he was happier than a free for all at Honeydukes as he noticed his cock, both, thicken and nearly double in length. That was until he realized whose body it was that he currently inhabited. He sat there now, waiting patiently but didn't have to wait long before there was a brief knock at the door and the entry of a figure that he immediate recognized as that of his love, Hermione.

He watched in amazement as she dropped the robes and upon exposure to the cool night air he watched in utter fascination as her areolas tightened and grew in length without stimuli. The beams of moonlight that drifted in from his open window showed her completely. In kind, he let his robes fall and took in the look of approval that crept across Hermione's face. He beckoned her with his hand to come quickly, however this is where she decided to change the rules just a little.

She crossed the room placed her hand on his firm and toned chest and pushed him to the bed, until he was forced to sit. The obvious lust that was smoldering in his gaze was more than enough encouragement. She felt the stirring heat between her legs. She quickly knelt in front of him, taking Harry's growing member into her hands and caressing it, which caused a moan of approval to come from his throat.

He looked down at Hermione as she took his soft cock in her small hands and dropped her head until he could feel her hot breath against the spongy tip. She flicked her tongue across it, opened her mouth and pushed forward until he could feel the back of her throat. When he thought that there wasn't much else that she could do, she proved him wrong.

She felt him at the back of her throat and at that moment she opened her throat and took him all the way into her until his pubic hair was tickling her nose. She laughed slightly which cause him to jump a little. It intrigued her so much that she started humming the Hogwarts school song. She sucked hard on him, causing a brief whimper but he stuck to the rules and didn't say anything. _Harry is such a good boy, _she thought to herself.

He looked down at her now seeing the smile in her eyes, and she was torturing him. He was certain of that torture as she sucked harder and harder as she backed off of him until just the soft head remained between her lips. After a moment, she would plunge back, all the way, down, and repeated the process a couple of times before standing up long enough to sit on his lap.

Ginny was delirious with the overwhelming lust that she felt looking down at a naked and quite erect Harry below her. She kept to the deal mostly with not talking but when she saw Harry's lips close to her painfully erect nipple there wasn't much more that she could do. She looked down at what she knew was Hermione's breast and watched in delight as Harry's lips closed around it. She felt the warm and wet tongue circling her nipple before the pressure of suckling began. She reached down, taking his length in her hand and guiding it to her desired destination.

He felt her hands desperate grip and seconds later a heat that enfolded him tightly and completely. Still suckling her breast, he wrapped his arms around her and thrust into her as much as he could, however she was in complete control of the situation in regards to how much of him was permitted entrance and for how long. He felt her muscled contracting around his cock which was driving him closer and closer to his point of release.

The throbbing between her legs as she plowed down harder and harder on Harry's firm cock filled an aching hole that had been in her for far too long, until she could hear his voice in her head once again. She smiled brilliantly at the long forgotten voice hissed symphonies to her awakening. She wrapped her legs around him, now, and felt the weight shift. Suddenly she was on her back and her Harry was thrusting into her violently. She wrapped her arms around him now and her fingernails dug trenches in this sexual combat which caused him to gasp as they climaxed together.

As they lay together shuddering violently in post-orgasmic bliss, the door burst open and to Ron's shock and horror they locked eyes with their duplicates at the sound of Harry Potter's voice.

"We found all the Horcruxes!" He said eagerly which was immediately followed by, "BLOODY HELL!" from Hermione.

Ginny found herself trapped in the darkness. She felt him there in the darkness with her and that is when her eyes opened. The room was bathed in a red light and she couldn't recognize the source. She tried to scream to say anything and found that she couldn't.

"NOT ALL OF THEM!" An eerily familiar serpentine voice screamed from the lips of Ginevra Molly Weasley.


	2. Chapter 2

**2. One hell of a response**

Harry Potter looked into a room with complete and utter horror. He didn't plan to be put into a situation where he found his girlfriend fucking her own brother but he found himself there none-the-less, and hyphenatedly so. He looked towards many sources as to the possible reason for the predicament and found only one reason. YOU. You, my gentle reader where the reason for this and no one else.

Harry Potter prayed for another solution to this but found no other reason except that the gentle reader of this story found it to be rather like a train on the tracks that had come to a point that would go no further.

He reached up from the pits that he found his rather lacking Gryffindor courage to be a whimpered rather weakly. 'Why?' He thought and then before answering his own questions sat and stewed. He had no direction, nor encouragement towards which way the passer-by wanted him to go. He didn't look towards praise or atta-boys I can't wish to see what you do next.

Harry just simply wanted it to end. But for some unknown reason he knew that there were UNKNOWN people whom tended to rate what was happening without so much as a word to the kind and gentle narrator

So this is where we found our story, sitting in limbo. The story wanted to be told but the readers didn't really care one way or another because their rather full tube of tissue was sitting there unused, unwanted but mostly because they didn't find a description that declared a Harry/Draco ship and that it wasn't a poofy challenge to get them all pointing north.

In fact, Dorothy approached this journal and found that not only were the entries not friendly whatsoever, but that the rainbows weren't imprinted upon a bumper sticker with friend catch phrases leading the reader towards orange as the new pink.

If you're reading this, in fact then color me disappointed that you didn't invest enough of an opinion to say that it sucked the first go around, and if there is the glint of hope that you liked the hack job I did, well, too little too late.


	3. Chapter 3

**2. The shite hits the fan**

_Harry?_ His name appeared in the diary, as he knew that was what he had decided to use the planner for and so therefore would refer to it as such. He saw the name, his name appear in the book and knew that he would sit down and write what he saw in the other one, now, word for word. To say that it was scaring the literal shite out of him would be putting it mildly.

After that task was done, he looked at the same words in his diary now that appeared in the other one. With shear force of will, however he decided to try something. Taking his quill he dipped it quickly into his inkwell, placed it on the page and wrote:

_What now? Does this mean that what has happened cannot be undone?_

Placing the quill on his desk, he stood and went back to the copy sitting atop his bed. Hesitantly, he reached for the book and opened again to the familiar page. He didn't see his question at first and then slowly, very slowly the words appeared there. What shocked him more than anything else was what had appeared next.

_We are the makers of our own fate, Harry. You must decide now if what you really want in this life is to survive it or go on to the next great adventure as the barmy old goat likes to say._

This had a mixed reaction as he was quite certain that he was reading his own writing again, but from when? How long does this go on? He quickly scrolled down through the pages back to the incest bit and the part where Ginny became Voldemort or at least the diary Voldemort re-manifests itself.

Harry grabbed diary number 2 and took it to his desk, putting it next to the newer unused one. Leaving number 2 open to the same page he quickly grabbed his quill and began furiously writing out questions.

_Can what I read about Ginny and Ron be stopped, changed?_ He wrote and quickly glanced at the other diary awaiting a reply.

_Did you not read or understand the part about fate? Harry, I didn't have this second diary when I went through all of this. There are plenty of questions that you have now, like whom to trust and why to trust them? That's for you to decide. There are plenty of things that I can say on the matter, like Dumbledore has ulterior motives. There's a lot of money at stake, and before you say that you don't want it. It's me you're talking to and I know that already, however you have to look at the bigger picture, Harry. _

_You will be inheriting a lot of money, land and titles, Harry. This comes with being a Potter and what that really means. You can scroll through this book, I would encourage you to do so, but the bit with Ginny, that's a tough nut to crack. What's a Horcrux? Remember that diary in second year? _

_Voldemort put a piece of him in it in so he could come back if he were killed and start over, but more importantly so that by taking that piece from himself it would prevent him from crossing into the next great adventure. He doesn't fear anyone or anything, not even Dumbledore. _

_The only thing that Voldemort fears is the unknown that comes with death coupled with the evils that he has committed bring a certainty having been raised in an orphanage that his religious foundations provide him with a very specific destination should he shuffle off this mortal coil. Wouldn't you be afraid of death if you were certain to go to hell? _

_Dumbledore? Well, you can rest assured that he has the wizarding world's best interest in mind with anything that he says or does, but at the expense of your happiness. Find a way to learn Occlumency that doesn't involve Snivellus. He's not on the side of the light or the side of the dark. Harry, he's on his own side and has had his own agenda. At the end of our sixth year, which will be starting for you in a couple of months, he will have used the Avada Kedavra spell on Professor Dumbledore while you watch in horror. _

_The professor will cover Horcruxes with you this coming up year as well as the life and times of one Tom Marvolo Riddle. The problem with this is that you still need to train and train hard. The education that you received in sixth year was about just as bad as with all the other's in regards to defense and that is because Dumbledore put Snape in the DADA position._

_Goals, Harry, you have to have them and prioritize them now._

_Learn Occlumency, and it wouldn't be a bad idea to learn Legilimency as well._

_Silent spell-casting is a very high priority as well, but keep in mind while it is important to learn how to do this, it is also coupled with the need for Occlumency. If your opponent is a Legilimens they'll still be prepared for what spell you're going to be sending if you mind is not protected._

_Keep your friends close Harry, but make damn sure that you know who you can trust. With the situation with Ron and Ginny, I'm not sure if either one of them could have been salvaged._

_Get out of that house as soon as possible. You will receive a letter from Gringotts in regards to the last will and testament of Sirius Orion Black, which will be quickly followed by a letter from Professor Dumbledore insisting that you stay home and that he would go in your stead. Should this happen, all will be lost. Go to Gringotts as soon as possible._

_Always be on your guard. If you are able to stop some of the events that are outlined in our diary, there may be some rather disastrous results. _

_If you cannot manage these goals as they're quite difficult, well, there is the other option of using the Tempus Restituo Charm. Ask Hermione to research it. You can reach her by phone, She wrote her number in the front of this planner._

Harry stood up, raking his hands through his hair in utter frustration. The most frustrating of it all was that Harry couldn't help but think that this was eerily familiar and brought him immediately back to the Chamber of Secrets and Tom's diary. He couldn't think and when that happened the only next logical thing that Harry would do was to start pacing in an attempt to sort through his thoughts. When that didn't quite happen, he sat down in front of diary number one, took quill in hand and began.

_I'm not sure that we have enough time to get this done, and if you are me, and if you had gone through everything, my question is: Are we done, where you are? Did we win? What were the costs? Who died? Who lived? Is this book a Horcrux?_

Looking at the second book now, Harry felt a sense of trepidation encompass him during the moments that passed before the first appearance of letters came across the page.

_Yes it is our Horcrux. I created it from Ginny/Voldemort after every other Horcrux of Voldemort had been destroyed. It cost us everything in the end. There were no survivors worth mentioning. The Weasleys and the Grangers were gone. The professors were gone. I found the way to defeat him, but in the end we're alone and in killing Ginny in the Department of Mysteries I created this Horcrux with the purpose of sending it where it currently is. You have a decision to make now. We can do it the long and hard way or I can give you the knowledge now. I wanted to prevent those chains of events Harry, that is all I wanted. I'm not dark or evil and this wasn't created to fool you. Should you manage to assimilate this knowledge I can tell you that it will make your part of that prophecy that much easier. You can defeat Voldemort. I've already done it. I just want to stack the odds and ensure that our friends have more of a fighting chance. Can you begrudge us that? _

With a deep sigh, a trembling Harry James Potter sat at his desk with a lot of things to mull over. This was a Horcrux, but it wasn't one of Tom Riddle's tanked objects. It was his planner, his diary that had been given to him by his best friend in the whole world. She was dead where the other Harry was, wherever that was.

With trembling hands, he touched the quill and began to write the questions that he wasn't quite sure whether or not that he really wanted answers to but felt compelled to start.

_How did Hermione die?_ He asked while a silent single tear trailed down his cheek. He wiped it away quickly and saw a paragraph appear in the second one.

_I'm not sure that you're ready for this or that the explanation as to what really happen would influence you towards a different path altogether. Suffice it to say, Ronald Weasley killed Hermione. After we found him and Ginny in that rather bizarre situation, she stunned him and ran off. He didn't take it too well and during the months to follow he never recovered from it. He slipped and was found by Wormtail and became a Death Eater, molded by the one whom betrayed your parents to betray you as an irony that history will repeat itself over and over. _

_Harry, she was pregnant at the time with our child. I know that this is something that you probably didn't expect or want to hear but Hermione and I have always been really close and it was her research into the Horcrux situation that lead not only to their destruction, but my ability to both make my own and send it back in time._

Harry had heard enough. He switched over to his planner and wrote his final question.

_How do I activate the Horcrux and take the knowledge within?_ Then quickly looking back at the second diary.

_Cut your palm and place it on the last blank page. A Horcrux requires a sacrifice to be activated. Since the Horcrux is ours to begin with it will just assimilate my knowledge back into our body. The incantation is Animus Restituo, much like the Tempus Restituo, but the Tempus deals with time while Animus deals with Souls or Spirits. You'll feel a surge and then every thing will become clearer as to the questions._

Hesitantly, Harry reached for his pocket knife, quickly slashing across his palm before thinking things through and just as quickly turned to the last page of the second diary, placed his bloodied palm to the palm.

"Tempus Restituo!" He screamed before a eeiry green light lept from the book, encompassed his body and the world turned black.


	4. Chapter 4

**4. Harry Potter's Wild Ride**

"Ladies and Gentlemen, Boys and Girls, Children of all ages once again it is a proud honor and delight for me on this joyous occasion to welcome one and all to Harry Potter's Wild Ride!" The voice that sounded vaguely and sickeningly familiar reverberated against the unknown and dark nothingness that encompassed Harry.

He didn't know where he was. He didn't really understand how he had gotten from the smallest bedroom at the prim and proper home of Vernon and Petunia Dursley. He just remembered the blood which covered his hand and the choice to make a sacrifice of it in the vain hopes that the messages that he had seen flitter without the aid of a proper quill grace the pages of his second diary.

Now he was here, and the voice that had echoed across the nothingness could have been screamed at the top of unknown lungs or could have been the faintest of whispers. What he did know is that there was no trust here. Whatever it was that had pushed him into making the usual rash decisions was the same blinding trust that he used whenever he went on any of his rather break-neck, scary and memorable adventures.

Did I mention that he was completely encased in darkness? Well, he was also without weight or gravity and floating in the midst of this huge expanse of nothingness. The kind of nothingness that surrounded oneself and left a pressure in one's ear that just sort of sat there doing nothing and left the one whom suffered there feeling nothing begging for any sort of thing to happen to break the monotony of it all.

Harry sat there patiently waiting for that sort of anything to happen and for quite a while he found himself bored beyond belief. It something was supposed to happen well, he was getting rather put out that it hadn't happened yet and was going to take it up with that something's management if it couldn't be bothered to do it's job right and proper.

There was at this point a certain lack of lucidity which enshrouded Harry and left him blissfully numb of every, which happened to also include himself; who he was to the point that he didn't even know what he was or what his station was or was to be, in life. He sat there waiting and that same screaming whisper came to him in this utter void.

"_Remember everything that you're about to see because unfortunately, while I cannot re-work time for you and give you the things of which you have dreamed, I can give you this experience which I hope that; at your age, you can retain it. Do you understand, Harry?" _The familiar voice was just that familiar, and while he acknowledge the intensity of the message and the need to pay quick and close attention to it he was still rather left with only the echo of the suggest text which audibly played upon his ears before succumbing to the total nothingness of it all.

Harry sat there, again, waiting for the show to get started and was disappointed to find that there was no real time here. Whatever it was that was supposed to happen had its own schedule that was accepted to be adhered. He sat and waiting light a faithful parishioner.

He was waiting, unfortunately, for the wrong thing. Expecting his senses to kick in and to see a blazing light, to hear a rush of sound only left him feeling bleakly disappointed. Instead, however, his entire body was surrounded by the most exquisite warmth that couldn't be relieved, if one wanted to get away from something such as it was.

He didn't know how long that he stayed within this warmth but slowly the warmth gave away to new feeling of an urgent pressure that surrounded him and pushed him. He was feeling contractions around him and while it wasn't suffocating it was certainly disorientating.

These contractions brought a new sense of awareness to him. They marked the passage of time, because they were not consistent, however they did become more and more frequent. After what appeared to have been ions, the blackness that completely confined him gave way to shades of gray which pulsed with the contractions.

The contractions now came with more and more repetition and Harry only vaguely thought that this somehow felt very familiar. It was almost like apparition but in the slowest of senses. It was after the sensation came back to back and then when it was one constant consistent pressure that Harry came to the realization of what exactly was happening and by then it was too late.

He felt hands on his head and was being pulled out.

_What the bloody hell is going on here? _ He asked the formless voice of his other self.

"Congratulations, Mr. and Mrs. Potter, it's a health baby boy." Harry heard the medi-witch exclaim and instantly, upon feeling a brisk swat against his bum, in his own horror began wailing.

_Harry, sit back and try to do you best to relax. I give you this one thing, now. I give you something that you always wanted and will remember with picture perfect clarity for the rest of your days. _Harry heard the very familiar voice say to him and then in a rush, that even though the entire experience became something that he had wished for, something that he relished, it flashed before both his eyes and senses as if in fast-forward. The first fifteen months of his life passed by, and he experienced the love that his entire had lacked and before he knew it, it was over.

He found himself sitting inside of his crib in Godric's Hollow and there before him wasn't the reptilian man that he now knew as Lord Voldemort, but more like a much older version of Tom Marvolo Riddle that he remembered from the Chamber of Secrets during his second year.

He watched in horror as his mother had made her final protest, but before it had only been the sound of her protest, "Please not him, take me!" His mother screamed and when she saw the wand pointing at her she quickly turned and look him straight in the eye. That look conveyed to him all the love that he knew that his mum possessed for him and when the light left her eyes it was an all encompassing feeling that even though she was no longer present in the carbon and water based form in front of him, she was quite literally surround him in that same love that was swimming in her eyes.

The next moment he heard the curse leave the dark lord's lips, felt the impact of the spell hit his head, but his resolve in life and not knowing what was happening didn't displace his life-force and the spell's nature in seeking out the closest life force available. The swarm of green energy bounced back violently ripping through the dark lord and Harry being the only witness watched in utter fascination as Tom Riddle fought with his whole being unsuccessfully to fruitlessly shrug off the Avada Kedavra.

Harry didn't have to wait long, however, and within a few minutes he saw the face of Peter Pettigrew enter the nursery, looking down in horror at the ramifications of his actions at the dead form of Lily Evans-Potter. He quickly crossed the room, gathered both to robes and the wand of his fallen master and left the room just as quickly.

An hour passed while the baby, alone and confused sat there looking at his dead mummy before he was scooped in the massive arms of one Rubeus Hagrid, and then taken outside. Harry watched in horror as the tears of Sirius Black fell from his eyes completely unashamed before succumbing to the pent up rage that was bubbling from within him. He quickly gave over his motorcycle to Hagrid before disappearing into the night with vengeance in his eyes.

_Harry, I'm sorry we had to watch this again but I want you to remember everything that you can. I know we're not as dimwitted as some people profess with a penchant for sarcasm and swirling and billowing robes. Remember everything._ And with that the efforts and speed of the vision increased to the magnitude of ten to one of the previous speed until it reached his first year of Hogwarts.

Each year from this point on too only a few minutes for them to flash through his vision and soon he was looking at his upcoming fifth year. What he saw shocked him in regards to the pointlessness of it all. One worthless teach after another, with the exception of Professor Lupin, but Umbridge completely enraged Harry in the method and means by which she took his torture as something that, while necessary to her cause came with such a detached loathing that her indifference immediately spoke volumes by which he was starting to formulate a plan for this year's future.

Umbridge was something that made his blood boil from within him. Something that he couldn't quite place and by the end of the fifth year and the shock and horror he found in not only the death of his godfather but by the callousness of Professor Dumbledore and his choice of poor timing in revealing to Harry a prophecy made about the end of the dark lord by one whom was born at the end of July and marked as an equal. While he was bound physically in the body moving at light speeds now he couldn't help but mentally reach up and stroke his all too familiar lightning bolt shaped scar.

He forwarded through his sixth year with just as equal horror because he had fallen to the way side of his best friend, Hermione Granger once he excelled in potions and in retrospect he realized that perhaps she felt rather useless when he did better in a class than she did. He had always held back in the past, allowing her to push both himself and Ron in their studies but with a combination of jealousy on her part and jealousy and pride on his own it was an overall horrible year which ultimately ended with Albus Dumbledore, greatest wizard of the age being killed by his very own defense against the dark arts professor and potion's master, Severus Snape.

The other things that just plain didn't sit right were the building relationship between himself and one Ginevra Molly Weasley. While the girl had grown into a beautiful young woman he honestly didn't find the interaction with her during the previous five years to be all that too fulfilling and lacked in regularity. Outside of the flashes of periods where they found themselves snogging that year there really hadn't been too much interaction and a complete lack of conversation between the two. Outside of physical attraction Harry had to admit that he really didn't know much about the tiniest Weasley.

Time stopped for a moment here and froze just at the end of the headmaster's funeral where Harry and Ginny were alone discussing the break-up.

_Pay attention here, Harry. Things are not always as they seem and while you may feel some very real feelings here, well sometimes it's best to understand not only what is said but what is not._

That was when she opened her mouth and declared that she knew that Harry wouldn't be happy unless he was chasing after Voldemort. Harry felt bile actually surge up and make home in the back of his throat. He realized that while, again, she was honest here in her assessment, she honestly didn't know him whatsoever and her mind was still clouded in him being The-Boy-Who-Lived and not Harry at all.

There was a fast forward now, where Harry found himself at number four Privet Drive. His reception of a missive from the deceased professor which happened to be a rather large tome of knowledge about Horcrux creation and destruction. It also included something that absolutely shocked him. A Marauder's styled map of England with confirmed locations of bit and pieces of Tom Marvolo Riddle stored all over England.

He shot off into light speed again and found himself in the company of his best friend, Hermione Jane Granger. The left his aunt's home for the last time and the shot all over the country with the aid of Bill Weasley on loan from Gringotts Wizard's Bank for his expertise in curse breaking. One site after the next the were able to collect the items: Hufflepuff's Cup, Salazar's Locket, Gryffindor's scabbard, Rowena's scrying crystal and surprisingly enough Tom Riddle's Award for outstanding service to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

Watched as one by one Bill was able to break the underlying curse traps that were contained in each object, however instead of destroying the remaining Horcruxes, the goblins provided a crystal container which Bill transferred the soul pieces into. Once complete, Harry placed the container in his family vault and then rushed to the Burrow with elation only to have it crushed when he found Ron and Ginny in a very compromising position.

Horrors followed as the soul piece that was originally contained in the diary of Tom Marvolo Riddle and thought destroyed by its puncture with a Basilisk fang were mere ploys as that soul piece had taken silent refuge within his first victim, Ginny Weasley and had manifest within his ex-girlfriend. She disappeared that night leaving Ronald Weasley a broken many that had succumbed to his wanton lust for his best friend by using Polyjuice with his own sister and engaging in carnal and forbidden pleasures.

Fast forward again as bits and pieces flashed before his eyes seeing that Hermione broke completely down and took solace with Harry in the needing comfort that he had provided to her and taken from her. Realization dawned and was illuminated upon at St Mungo's when he found out that he had been severely poisoned with a potion similar to Amortentia which hadn't been named but obviously used against him by Voldemort and through Ginny Weasley.

He watched as his fell in love with Hermione Granger, and he knew that had the poisoning not occurred this could have potentially happened earlier. He watched as the brief moments of happiness were shattered by another betrayal as Ronald Bilius Weasley attacked and viciously killed a pregnant Hermione before Harry's eyes. He watched as Harry quickly and with much malice dispatched his former friend to find that familiar dark mark branded upon his left forearm.

Insanity followed with massive amounts of grief and a need for revenge. Harry watched himself study harder and more furiously than ever before. He was aided by Tonks and Remus as they devoured the Black Library which they found to be the most comprehensive library available on the dark arts.

A flood of images flashed through them and while Harry was studying even more thoroughly than he had in the past he still shook violently each night screaming for Hermione. Each night Nymphadora had come into his room, crawled into the bed in from of him, wrapping her arms around him while Remus climbed in from behind him providing assurances that while the costs had been high he still had friends that were loyal to him.

He watched as the moment for revenge came as the captured Ginny Weasley, and Harry viciously, brutally and most calculatedly murdered her with the intent and successfully built his own Horcrux out of the journal, which he stored in his family vault yet again.

Harry finally watched the final battle between himself and Voldemort. Hundreds of dead bodies littered the huge expanse which had at one time been Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry but now lay in ruin and Lord Voldemort stood over the toppled form of Harry.

"Good bye Harry Potter! Avada Kedavra!" He screamed and watched in utter and sick fascination as the light struck its target true.

Harry just batted his eyes at Lord Voldemort, while reaching into his pocket to relieve it of its prize, the crystal container. He opened freeing the soul pieces which savagely attacked their embodied counterpart. It had been now nearly five years and although Harry had done many dark things, he reveled in the sound of the approaching phoenix that dropped the familiar sorting hat in his lap.

Reaching into the hat, once again, he pulled the Sword of Gryffindor free and plunged it quickly through the chest of Tom Marvolo Riddle. To make sure that it was completely over, he removed Tom's head before collapsing into the litany of bodies and parts of bodies surrounding him.

Time seemed to stand still for a moment when he turned to see Tonks, blinking at him, coughing up bloody, and tears streaking down her cheeks. She wasn't looking at him, but just over his shoulder, and as he turned he felt his heart literally break as his saw the silver hand of Wormtail punched cleanly through the chest of the last Marauder. He fell back next to Tonks.

"Harry, you have to find a way to fix this, p-p-please." She managed and that was the last thing that she said before he sightless eyes fixed on him and dulled.

Years upon years went by in a flurry. Harry was all over the world finding tomes of knowledge here and there and finally was able to make a portal to simply view the past. He found other worlds and what he thought to be parallel universes but found them to be something else entirely. Their existence was a direct result of the illegal use of a time-turner or other such devise.

Millenniums had past with his studies and solitude. When he emerged finally there was no longer anything that resembled the world that he had left. There were no such things as Muggles any longer as history had provide live evolves and those whom were known to be secretive and lock themselves up because they were magical had simply been the next evolutionary step in the human life's journey.

He finally found an obscure ritual created by Rowena Ravenclaw which had been preserved in the site formally known as the Department of Mysteries, and upon it's recitation in front of the same fluttering veil of voices saw the fifteen year old visage of his former self just arrived at Privet Drive.

Fresh tears and hope that welled up in his heart as he quickly threw the journal through the veal and with elation watched as it landed on his desk.

Harry watched as the previous days events unfolded in front of him knowing that his elder self, which he hoped to avoid altogether watched him until it came up to present.

"Bloody Fucking Hell!" Harry exclaimed as the knowledge assimilated itself within him. Then, without malice, a slow creeping of the corners of his mouth turned upward of their own accord into something that wasn't ever on his face while he was resident within the smallest bedroom at number four Privet Drive.


	5. Chapter 5

**Diary Entries and Weekly Missives**

Hermione Granger sat atop her bed looking at the very familiar snowy owl, Hedwig, whom sat atop the ledge of her bedroom window. She noticed a rather thickly rolled parchment and her thoughts immediately rushed to some of the last words from Harry, which had been a promise to write to him once a week.

It had not even been two days into the summer holiday and already he was ahead of her other best friend, Ronald Weasley, whom she didn't suspect would be sending a letter whatsoever, but hadn't made such a promise either.

It was nearly nine o'clock in the evening and Hermione, while not intending to turn in early was already wearing her night clothes which consisted solely of a shear white cotton nightgown, panties and for some reason a pair of rather poorly matched socks. It wasn't anything that was fancy but it was something that she found to be extremely comfortable and brought her back to her pre-Hogwarts days of what it was like to be at complete ease.

Upon looking at Hedwig, she found herself far from being at ease. Harry's letters were rarely long and with the death of Cedric Digory just weeks ago, she felt hesitant because she felt that he would be pushing her away and without being face to face he would take liberties in pushing her further and further from him because he had the luxury of not having her there to counter each point that he might make.

She reluctantly stood and walked over to Hedwig. With trembling hands she just barely managed to pull the letter from the tethered owl. She pointed towards to awaiting bowl of water, as she noticed that Hedwig wasn't immediately leaving with the understanding that Harry was expecting a reply. She crossed the room, resumed the seat she previously occupied and with a held breath began to read.

_Dear Hermione,_

_Well, I told you that I would write you once a week and I most certainly didn't want to be accused of lying to my best friend so here it is. After all, they don't call you the "Brightest witch of our age," for nothing. _

_Hermione, I know that I'm giving you a bit of a ribbing, but in all seriousness, I got here and I just wanted to turn around and go right back, and now that it's only been a day things are back to normal. When I'm not made to do all the chores, I'm shuffled off out of site to my room and fed through the cat flap._

_I miss you, very much. I hope that you appreciate that and the fact that my RELATIVES have allowed me to have my trunk in my room and I've already started in on the summer homework. Please, I'm begging you do NOT tell Ron! I'll never live it down._

_I know that I'm back and forth in writing you in this letter but again my mind has been wondering around a bit. Did I tell you that you're the first person to ever kiss me? I think I was a little shocked, even though it was only on the cheek, you have the eternal spot of being Harry Potter's first kiss._

_Well, I'm not sure what else to tell you, Hermione. I hope that our OWL year is better than the year we just got out of and that we don't have another death eater as a teacher for defense against the dark arts. _

_Please write soon and let me know how things are. I'll make sure that Hedwig waits for a reply as I'm sure she'll be a little tired once she gets all the way to your home._

_Last, I want to thank you for standing by me this last year, for believing me and believing in my innocence in not putting my name in that blasted cup. Thank you for all the help you gave me with the tasks and thank you for being my truest friend. I know that I worked things out with Ron at the end of the first task and all but at the same time you never faltered from me._

_With Love,_

_Your best friend, Harry_

Hermione stared at the letter in utter shock. She didn't know what had shocked her more, that Harry Potter, her Harry, her very best friend in the whole world had done the unthinkable in normal circumstances, summer homework on the first day back. She shook her head vehemently, before drifting to the thought of the friendly peck on the cheek.

She had been his first kiss. She blushed at the thought of it and all of a sudden she realized that the secret crush that she had harbored for the boy since he had thoughtlessly, recklessly and for no other reason as to save her life from the clumsy brutish attack of the wayward mountain troll. She squealed loudly before quickly stifling herself because that just was not Hermione-like whatsoever.

After a few moments, the familiar light padding of feet could be heard quickly darting up the stairs and seconds later there was a quick knock at her door.

"Come in, mum." Hermione said, still blushing furiously as she watched her mum enter quickly and sit next to her daughter with a slight look of concern mixed with amusement. For a moment she didn't say anything whatsoever, still trying to control the flush across her cheeks, before she looked at her mum again and saw that the concern was now gone, completely replaced by the amusement. "MUM!"

"Sorry dear, but I couldn't help but hear you squeal from downstairs and had to ascertain whether there was anything amiss. I do hope that everything is okay." She said, all the while noticing the familiar snowy owl of her daughter's best friend and secret crush. Jane Granger knew her daughter very very well. They were cut from the same mold. They were, both, strict academic prodigy whom learned best when using time-tables and schedules and a love for very brave and noble men.

"Honestly mum!" Hermione started, completely prepared to mount her defense of any subject that her mum might begin with, but her mother knowing Hermione's tactics jumped right in for the kill.

"Is it a letter from your boyfriend, then? How's Harry getting along? You know it's only been two days, one if you take into consideration how long it would take Hedwig to deliver her package and considering that she doesn't seem to be overtly labored, you have definitely got me quite interested into why my studious daughter was squealing with such zeal. Come on Hermione Jane, out with it?"

Hermione listened to her mother speak faster than what she could comprehend, and that was saying something rather spectacular consider the rants that she frequently visited upon her best friends. It took her a second or two to acclimate all the questions that her mum had asked. Her flush in cheeks turned quickly from the slight pink hue to that of full-out crimson. She took several breaths in a vain attempt to calm herself before she resigned herself with the knowledge that any exoneration that she attempted for herself was already annihilated. Resigned to her fate she handed her letter to her mum and tucked her head in shame.

Jane Granger took the letter from her reluctant daughter's hand. When saying that Hermione had been reluctant was a rather misrepresentation of what actually had happened. At first, she didn't want to part with the letter and upon her mum's persistence and her noticing that upon a tug-of-war with a piece of parchment between the two women that only the Hermione would lose because she was a bit of a pack-rat and liked to keep absolutely everything. As a point of fact to illustrate how much of this actual need could be construed as a disease, she still had every completed assignment that she had done since the first day of primary school.

Jane quickly read the note and came to the same conclusions that her daughter had come to, as well. This boy, while not coming outright and saying it, had a definite albeit hesitant interest in her daughter. She recalled seeing the boy at the station upon picking up her daughter just the other day. He had certainly grown in the two years since she and her husband Roger had been briefly introduced to him during Hermione's second year. While still on the small side he appeared to be full of compassion and friendship and something else which she couldn't place, or maybe she did but knew that he hadn't quite placed it at the time of de-boarding from the odd red train.

"Hermione, I'm not here to criticize you, but by what I've read this Harry is rather taken with you. If you do not feel the same way I would caution you to use the band-aid technique and be quick and to the point, but judging by the way that you are reacting I think that you might also have certain feelings for him?" She stated in a way that while rather instructional was still filled with a mother's genuine concern. Looking towards her daughter she could see that the bluff had given way to a firm resolve.

"Mum, Harry's a rather dense boy when it comes to expressing his feelings." Hermione finally offered, but the mask of uncertainty was only that a mask that a mother could see through instantly.

"Pumkin, you do care for him." The had been a statement, and after a moment Dr. Jane Granger only had to see the resigned nod before she continued. "Well, the direct approach is always the best route to go."

"But mum, when he asked me how he looked before we left for the Yule Ball I told him that he never looked more fanciable, and he still didn't pick up on it. I've liked him since first year, but you know how I am when it comes to making friends."

"HERMIONE JANE GRANGER YOU LISTEN TO ME!" Her mum practically exploded. She was shocked at the aggressive method her mum used as it was something that was reserved for when her dad had found himself in the proverbial dog-house, however upon her reaction she could see that her mum had fully gained her attention. "You like him as more than a friend right?" Hermione nodded. "He listens to you no matter how far you take was you say and whether or not you are attempting to sway him to something of which you hold a firm conviction?" Again, Hermione nodded. "Well, Hermione, it seems that Mr. Potter is a lot smarter than even your father because at least he puts his faith in you most of the time. Tell him how you feel. Be completely honest because without it you will not take that relationship any place that you want and will constantly be firmly in the place of "Best Friend" and by the look on your face of me saying that I can tell that you don't want to always just be his friend. I'm sure that it too a lot out of the young man to even tell you that you were his first kiss, even if it was only on the cheek. That is you're in and I would explore that, honey. Tell him how you feel. Even if you are only friends in the end, it will make that friendship solidify beyond what you have with your other friend whom you constantly bicker with, okay?"

"Yes mum." She said, resigned to the fact that her mum was right, as usual. She watched as her mum crossed her bedroom towards the window and already knowing before she had completed the act itself, her journal. Quickly taking it in her hands and returning it to her daughter, Hermione sighed.

"You know what I expect, honey, just know that it will help." Jane said to her only daughter, and upon Hermione's nod, she leant into her, kissed her daughter's forehead and left the room.

Hermione quickly enjoyed the silence of her room for a moment, reliving the joy that she received in having a letter from Harry after only two days into the summer holidays. This would be interesting. She could finally explore the feelings that she held for the boy that had saved her life, took her seriously, treated her with both honor and respect and, as she looked for the hidden meaning in the letter, love. He didn't realize it, of course. Harry was a bit isolated from anything having to do with love and that was something that she decided would just have to change.

Hermione stood up with resolve, crossed over to her desk. She quickly opened an inkwell, grabbed a quill and began furiously scratching her heart and soul into the journal.

_Dear Diary, (Merlin, that's so cliché)_

_How do I tell him that I love him? He seems so dense at times but with everything I say and do he takes as almost gospel, and while the power in that can be intimidating, at times, it's also refreshing to know that I have a friend like Harry whom I can trust. The problem that I find myself having is the risk involved it taking that friendship to the next level. What if things don't work out in the long run? I risk loosing the person that I feel is my best friend. I admit that Ronald Weasley is my friend, too, but at the same time he pushes me closer and closer to madness with each and every argument that we have. He argues with me just to spite me and just for argument sake._

_I admit that I told him that he should have asked me to the Yule Ball and not as a last resort, but I was also saying that to spite him as well. He's absolutely insufferable at all times and I probably would have told him so. _

_Now that I think about it, I think that I was angry with Harry because while he was pining over Cho Chang he failed to notice me helping him at every turn. He asked her to go to the Yule Ball only to be politely told that she had already been asked and accepted. I suppose it was rather juvenile of me to tell Ron when he finally plucked up the courage to half-arse ask me to the ball as ditched effort, mostly, out of desperation, but my anger at the situation was that Harry hadn't asked me at all._

_Harry's cute and fun and makes me laugh and gets me into so much trouble that had I never met him I'd never have had done in the first place and listen to me babble, now. I love him, but I dare not tell him yet. What do I do, dear Diary?_

_Fight fire with fire is my first thought and while he was somewhat flirtatious with me in sort of mentioning the kiss I gave him, which was really my first one with the exception of Victor kissing my hand, I suppose I should play upon it._

_Well, Diary, I'm off to write Harry back. I know that he said that Hedwig could stay until morning and that is what I'll allow her to do. I don't want to abuse such a lovely and loyal owl._

_Love always,_

_Hermione_

Hermione diligently cleaned off the tip of her quill and placed it upon her desk. She looked at the clock and noticed that it was now closer to being midnight than it had eight in the evening, which is when she had last laid her eyes upon the digital read-out of her bedside clock. She hadn't really realized that she had let time get away from her while in her pensive thoughts.

Once again, Hermione grabbed the quill and the minutes rushed past her before she finally signed the parchment, addressed the envelope, and with a smirk tied the letter to Hedwig's outstretched leg. Before she knew it, Hedwig leapt off of her arm, and flew out the open window.

"Bloody hell, Harry, what have we started?" Hermione said to herself silently out into the night before turned and tucking in for the night.


	6. Chapter 6

**6. Schedules, Missives, and More Entries**

'_I need to formulate a plan and I need to do it now.'_ A very assimilated Harry James Potter thought to himself. He was pacing back and forth the diminished expanse of that which was the smallest bedroom at number four Privet Drive. His pacing wasn't reckless or that which would normally be an angst-filled teen. It was that of a learned tactician, that of one who became pensive in the face of adversity.

Sitting down in front of his desk, which had bits of parchment littered across it, which at first glance of an untrained I would think he was a rather horribly disorganized boy of fifteen, however had they watched as he organized these scraps of paper within the next minute or so they would realize that this wasn't haphazard, but the beginnings of an organized and detailed plan.

Harry Potter had come into his full power when the fifteen year old and the Horcrux had come together, and by full power, it wasn't as if he lacked magical ability so much as before but rather that the knowledge his Horcrux held was more than any other magical being had ever before possessed. He knew spells that hadn't been thought of and ways to use the simplest of spells for the most devious of reasons. There were many things that he hadn't quite realized and the older version of himself had told him to formulate a plan.

He wrote down thoughts and ideas on random slips of parchment. No matter what time it was or where he was, and usually he was in his room. He would jot down a random thought. Now, amidst the confetti of random thoughts he began to organize them.

How will Hermione react to the letter I see? He looked at the question that had been written on the slightly discolored slip of yellowed parchment and it was if reading it at that very moment in time had been prophecy in and of it self, Hedwig flew in through the window and quietly landed on the desk in front of him with a letter from Hermione.

He took a deep breath, quickly took the letter from his familiar and without needing to be told she quickly flew into her cage and tucked her head behind her wing. Within seconds his snowy owl was already putting forth a serious effort to the business of gaining herself some rest after a few exerting evening. Making her Harry happy was her top priority, after all.

Harry's hands went to task almost hesitantly. He plucked up his courage as best he could and then, with the speed and grace that he normally reserved to use during a Quidditch match he tore the envelope, unfolded the letter and proceeded to read her reply.

_Dear Harry,_

_I'm so glad that you decided to keep to your promise, although, I did not expect to hear from you so soon. It was a rather pleasant surprise, so please don't think that this was meant to scold you. _

_I was also as equally surprised to hear that you've decided to take you summer studies seriously and are currently putting forth the effort. I, too, began summer homework and have already put forth my schedule so that I can maximize the efficiency of both what is expected from me for my academic expectations as well as having some fun._

_Harry, I know that your life with your relatives is hard. It's evident each and every year that we meet again to return to school. You're so skinny and I do hope that you are able to have proper meals this summer. Please let me know if you need anything and perhaps I can send some packages with Hedwig as we continue to correspond._

_I've been a bit hesitant with how to address the kiss I gave you last week. Harry I did mean to do it, however, had I truly known that you had never had a proper kiss. I'm getting off track and now I'm plucking up my Gryffindor courage myself by admitting that had I known you would have allowed me I would have given you a more proper kiss._

_You mean the world to me Harry. You've been my best friend since first year, and while Ron has been my friend as well, with the bickering and fighting that he and I have done over the years, but you have been the more true of friends and we have rarely had much of a disagreement. _

_I've had a bit of a crush on you Harry since first year since an amazing young and determined boy abandoned what was easy and jumped atop a mountain troll to save a girl he hardly even knew outside of being a bit of a know-it-all and a bookworm with bushy hair and overly large incisors. _

_I know that it probably sounds horrible of me to talk about myself like that but it's the truth and I know it. Just know that I'm not what I would call a Boy-Who-Lived fan-girl. I know you and have known you for the past four years and I hope that if you do not return my affections that you can at least agree to continue the status quo of our friendship. _

_Last, you haven't mentioned how you are doing since returning to your relatives in the regard of coping with Cedric's Death. Remember Harry it is not your fault that he died and that fault solely rests on the shoulders of the man whom held the wand and used the curse with utter conviction. It was done to strike fear into you and break your spirit. Please do not allow him to be successful in those efforts. Cedric wouldn't want that of you and you must know that I wouldn't either. _

_Love,_

_Hermione_

To say that Harry found himself completely dumb-struck by what he read. He expected her to tell him that he was being silly and that she liked Ron. That is the way things were supposed to work. Ron had called dibs on Hermione, effectively last year, and all the while Harry had on a subconscious level resented him a little for it, it was now clear to him that Ron's faith in his charisma was misplaced when it came to their best friend. Ron would be crushed but at the same time, he had called dibs. Hermione was not a possession she was a person whom had her own thoughts and feelings and a couple of hormonal boys had actually placed her into the possession category around the time of the Yule Ball.

Thinking about the Yule Ball, she did look absolutely stunning and he, too, had been guilty in not thinking about her in the girl category. Harry rationalized that the reason for this hadn't been the same reason as she might have thought, however. Most girls were giggling messes and Hermione had never been that. She had been rational and thought provoking always, but she had never been non-approachable to either him or Ron and with that readily availableness that took her out of the same category of the other girls, just not for the same reason.

In all honesty, Harry really would have asked her to the Ball had he honestly wanted to go, but it had been one of the things that he had dreaded as much as he dreaded another confrontation with another manifestation of Voldemort and therefore waited until the last moment.

Teenage boys were just that, and with that, they were subject to Hormones just as much as teenage girls. He found Cho Chang to be rather beautiful and she at times was even able to talk to Harry, made herself available through that conversation and Harry soon found that she was just as easy to talk to as Hermione had been. The problem was that when it came closer and closer to the time of the Ball, to Harry's utter horror, he found that he was not only required to attend the ball, and not only required to have a date for said ball, but he was to open the ball as being a Tri-wizard Champion with a dance.

Now, he realized with the potential of future events the actual purpose of the Horcrux. It was to make his future self a paradox and to alter the events, and one of those events that he was determined to change one of the most important ones, Hermione. Dibs or not it was clear with the letter that he had just read that she was not only just interested in Harry; not the Boy-Who-Lived, but the boy whom she had known for the last four years. The girl that future Harry had known for twice that and that this Hermione could be much more of an asset to him in many ways by taking a proactive stance in pursuing a relationship.

Sitting back down at his desk with the letter still in his hand, he placed it off to the side momentarily. He was still a teen and as such was subject to distraction. He had a purpose today and that was to formulate his plan. Looking at the scraps of paper, he began to read and make notes in his journal.

_Save Sirius._ Two words stared back up at him from the brief note that he made. This would be a top priority; however, Harry had to look at the whole picture. This year Voldemort would try to trick him into going into the hall of prophecies in the Department of Mysteries. This he just couldn't allow to happen. If it happened that way again he would end up watching his godfather die all over again. Next, in working this plan, with the knowledge of his older self, he wasn't sure how he would react to seeing Sirius again. He knew that there was a plan to pick him up in a little over two months and take him to the Ancient and Most Noble House of Black and that they would be forced to clean and he would find out about the Order of the Phoenix.

_Confront Professor Dumbledore about the prophecy and address the potential of being manipulated from all sides. Make a stand._ Harry knew that Dumbledore did many things with the motivation of everything being for the greater good. The problem was that the man had lived for such a long time that he may have lost perspective of what impact his machinations may have. He didn't know whether or not the old man knew the conditions for which he lived and he would have to feel him out while using Legilimency.

_Fix Ginevra Molly Weasley. _This was something that Harry had thought long and hard about and in further retrospect from his older self he felt that on some level that he had failed her during her first year by not checking to see if there had been any lasting effect as a direct result of her being possessed by Tom Riddle. The fact that more sooner than later he would be confronted with a newly possessed Ginny and he had to make sure that didn't occur. That would be another thing that he would have to ensure to make a change for the better. He also had to squash her crush. He realized that in her previous incarnation she had used Amortentia potion that she acquired this year on him to gain a relationship with him. This, too, would have to change.

_Find out what is going on with Hermione and him and whether or not she is interested in pursuing a relationship with him._ Judging by the letter that he had just read, he was rather certain that she was most definitely interested in pursuing something here. The only problem that he foresaw was the reaction of one Ronald Bilius Weasley to him pursuing a romantic relationship with the one whom he had claimed dibs on through subterfuge.

_Acquire a copy of his parents will._ Harry realized that this, too, would be rather difficult to accomplish. He knew this for the simple reason that he would be fifteen years only in a little over a month and still not old enough to take the proper precautions to ensure his emancipation. Should he be able to save Sirius, he still had the hope of living with him and getting to know him outside of his godfather's certain desperation when it came to him.

_Meet with representatives of Gringotts and securely hire Gringott's curse breakers to assist with the acquisition of Tom Riddle's Horcruxes._ Harry felt that if he took a more active approach here that he could better his position sooner than his older self had. He would use Bill Weasley, if at all possible and as long as he provided a wizard's oath of secrecy.

_Find Wormtail and make him pay._ This was something that he thought should be a high priority and looked at the extra stars that Harry had drawn on this scrap of parchment. Securing the capture of Peter Pettigrew would allow quite a few things, but at the same time, he would have to meet other objectives first. Capturing Peter before the Horcruxes could possibly force Tom into a protective defense. Should he feel the necessity to move them because he felt uneasy it could definitely skew the time-line enough to move things in his favor.

_Train his body._ Harry looked at himself now with a critical eye. He was too thin. He was malnourished and in the other time-stream it had nearly caused him to loose. With a few extra years of physical training, he would be quicker on the draw, have been reflexes and more stamina. He would have to be, both, decisive in what he hoped to attain and he would have to have support.

_Hire Dobby and Winky to help him and ensure that he has a proper diet._ This is something that he could start with now.

"Dobby!" Harry stated as matter of fact and with a soft pop a rather overly eager house-elf wearing multiple knitted hats and socks of many colors(Unfortunately this also included the first one that he acquired which at one time belonged to Harry).

"Master Harry Potter sir is needing Dobby?" He questioned with a look of hope in his eye.

"Yes Dobby. I was hoping that I could hire you away from Hogwarts, and Winky as well. I am in need of assistance and the first thought I had was you. Are you available?" He asked, already seeing the contemplative look in the little elf's eyes.

"Oh yes, sir, Master Harry Potter sir, however I would not be requiring payment! I would willingly bond with Harry Potter sir and be a proper House Elf."

"But Dobby, what about your freedom. It was an extremely difficult task to get you spirited away from Lucius Malfoy. Wouldn't you be trading away your life again into slavery?"

"Would Harry Potter sir be as cruel as former master?" Dobby asked with a apprehensive look in his eye.

"ABSOLUTELY NOT!" Harry all but screamed at the frightened elf, and noticed the fear immediately disappear.

"The Dobby is agreeing to be bonded to Master Harry Potter sir, and Winky would just as eagerly agree. We are not agreeing to slavery, Harry Potter sir, but servitude to a great and noble wizard. Former Master was… A dark and evil Wizard and took Dobby by force from his family. Now, Dobby will have his family back!" Dobby said with a resolve and revelation that Harry hadn't known.

"Dobby?" Harry asked and once the little elf had looked up at him and he knew that he had Dobby's attention. "Did you serve the house of Potter before becoming the Malfoy's house elf?"

"No sir, Harry Potter sir, Dobby's was being too young, but Dobby's mummy and daddy were Potter elves and I was to be, as well."

"Well then, let me welcome you back to the family. Let me make one thing clear though, Dobby. There will be absolutely no punishing yourself. If you are uncertain of a course of action, please ask me, and if you could, please Dobby, call me Harry?" He finished and if he didn't see it with his own eyes he would not believe that the little elf's eyes could get any bigger. He began to openly weep and when Harry actually thought that perhaps he had gone just a little too far, he was once again bouncing up and squealing in absolute delight.

"And Master… um, Harry is wishing to hire Winky as well?" Dobby asked hopefully.

"Dobby, is there something that I should know about Winky and you?" Harry asked with a slight smile upon his face, and noticing the look of hesitance that came across Dobby's face before it melted into resolve.

"Winky is being Dobby's mate, Harry Potter, sir. I is hoping that is being okay?" He asked hopefully.

"Yes, Dobby that is most welcome." Harry said, but then quickly went into what was needed here and now. "Dobby, I must confess to you that my relatives do not take good care of me and as such, on of your top priorities will be to ensure that I am properly fed throughout the day. If you would take of my room for me as well, that would be most helpful. Also, I need the Potter properties to be taken care off as well, by you and Winky. Can you do this for me?" Harry asked meekly. He knew that the elf would do it before the question left his mouth but at the same point.

"Oh yes sir, Dobby is most agreeing to fatten up skinny Mas… Harry up nicely."

"Well, I don't want to get fat, Dobby, just healthy, and I cannot do that while trying to live on what my family provides. I do appreciate it." Harry finished honestly.

With another soft pop, Harry's newly reacquired house elf disappeared. Harry assumed that the elf had disappeared to get Winky and give her the good news. It was just after eight o'clock in the morning and Harry had, as usual cooked a full spread for the Dursleys only to be rewarded with a small crust of bread a left over egg yolk that had somewhat dried to the other three's plates. Upon his return to his room however Harry was taken aback by what he had found. There were three plates of Eggs with Bangers and Bacon. Another plate piled high with pancakes, whipped cream and strawberry marmalade. The third plate was fresh fruits consisting of oranges, bananas, strawberries, and pineapple.

Harry was amazed but at the same point ravenous. He tore into the food and within twenty minutes the plates were empty. He sat back with a very satisfied and full stomach and then with his firm conviction sat down and detailed an exercise regiment that he would follow.

Once he completed the schedule which only two a few minutes he began stretching and then running for half an hour without stopping. Once he was done, to ensure that his legs didn't cramp up, he slowed to a job for a few minutes and then walked the remainder back to Privet Drive. He decided that the best thing for him to do was to work out gradually. He would alternate his running to every other day for the next two weeks. On the odd days he would do sit-ups and push-ups and he would go to the part down the road and use the monkey bars for the purpose of chin-ups and inverted hanging sit ups.

After the two weeks were up he would combine the work out regime until he was completing the whole schedule daily. This would add muscle and stamina to his person and bring his body to where he wanted it to be. He would also look into free weights but that would have to wait until he was able to get to Gringotts and exchange some galleons for pounds.

Finally, accomplishing what it was that he decided was today's goal, he went back and re-read Hermione's letter. He quickly grabbed his quill and began another letter to Hermione in response to the one that she had sent him. He had to explain his actions now as well as use his best friend's ear, or in this case eyes to gain another perspective in what he had planned. Last, he had to lay the ground work that he felt was necessary to see whether she would be interested in him romantically. Even though reading her words she seemed to be, she would not expect him to immediately pick up on it and while he had he didn't want to inadvertently push her away with his eager acceptance of their mutual admiration.

Hedwig, ever the eager familiar, quickly flew from her cage, caught the letter in her beak in mid air and rushed out the window before Harry could even protest.

"I cannot believe that I just asked her to be my girlfriend. So much for dibs, Ron." Harry said with a smile on his face as he leaned back on his bed with his fingers interlaced behind his head.

**A/N: I hope that you enjoy what I'm writing. This story is going to kind of play out a lot slower than some of my others so I'm kind of laying some ground work. It's not going to be a sex fest but there will be some later in the story. It's part of life. I'd like to hear some thoughts on the direction and what you think of the story as it develops. What you'd like to see. If you're being critical, be specific. Read, Review and Enjoy.**


	7. Chapter 7

**7. Decisions and Missives and Training, Oh My!**

Hermione Jane Granger had sat in complete and utter stunned silence for what had been well over two hours now. She was shocked and that was putting it mildly. There weren't too many things that could shock this young woman of fifteen years but the piece of parchment, which had fallen out of her grasp to come back into intimate and familiar contact with the waxed hardwood floor of her quiet bedroom for the twentieth time finally brought her out of her musings.

Hermione Jane Granger, the smartest witch of her year, found herself in the position which she had never, ever, found herself in. She had nothing that she could say at this moment which would be construed as an internal argument against what she had just read. He had covered all the bases and the counter-arguments as well. It was so short and simple and to the point that she didn't know what to say.

Hermione Jane Granger, leapt off of her bed now and, just as quickly as the previously nineteen mentioned times, retrieved the letter that her very best friend, and hopeful boyfriend, has sent her most recently. She quickly unfolded the letter and re-read it, once again.

_Dear Hermione,_

_I'm not going to make this long but I have to tell you this now so that I can get it out of the way. I love you. I love everything about you. From the first time that I set my eyes on you and you, with all honesty, pointed out the smudge on Ron's nose, and your question to help in your search for Neville's toad._

_You had been just as bewitched by the whole situation that you found yourself in as I had been. Fortunately for you, you live in an environment which was supportive and you were able to read up on all the things that you were to expect. I'm a bit jealous of that and had always been but only because I had wished that my family had been that supportive. _

_You've supported me in all of our misadventures each and every year and last year by standing with me allowed me to fall that much more in love with you. You've always been there for me and I wish that I could have found the courage outside of my pride to ask you to the Yule Ball. If I had your time-turner I most certainly would have gone back and asked you first._

_Now, I find myself in a situation that we are creating together. Your flirtation and my return of the same has come and provided me more courage. I want more Hermione. Now, before you think that this is me just being a soon to be fifteen year old hormonally-driven boy. I would never do anything of force you to feel awkward in my affections for you. _

_I want to be able to talk to you the same way that we have always talked to you. I want to be able to hold your hand as we're walking to class. I want to be able to hug you first thing in the morning, and I want to be able to kiss you good night before we turn in and head back to our perspective dorm rooms. I want to pursue what I hope will be a relationship with you that could only conclude into further deepening and being hopeful that you feel the same._

_Hermione, would you consider being my girlfriend? I humbly await your reply._

_With Love,_

_From Harry_

Hermione felt her hands trembling as she re-read the letter again. She knew what she had to do and quickly scrambled down the stairs to where her mum sat with her dad in t he living room in from of the television.

"Mum!" Hermione exclaimed silently and when her mother acknowledged her with a whip of her neck, she beckoned her to come back upstairs before rushing back upstairs. She sat nervously on her bed for what seemed like an eternity to her but realized that it had only been a few moments before she heard a familiar wrap upon her door that immediately identified her mum.

"Come in." She said a bit more harshly than she intended and then immediately covered her hand upon her mouth.

She watched in utter familiar humiliation as her mum entered the bedroom with the already present smirk upon lips that were identical to her own. The older woman quickly crossed the brief expanse of the room and sat quickly beside her daughter.

"Hermione, love, what seems to have you so worked up this evening?" Her mother questioned, and upon raising her head to meet her mum's eyes she could see the genuine concern and quickly relaxed. Unable to say anything she quickly handed the letter over to her mother and waited patiently as she watched her mother read.

The time, for Hermione, passed very slowly and she immediately knew that this was done for the exact same reason that she herself had read the letter twenty times. Her mother was simply taking in each sentence and then analyzing it for what it meant.

"What would you like me to do, Hermione?" Her mum asked with a knowing look that Hermione immediately recognized as acceptance but at the same time a testing ground. Her mum had always been supportive of her daughter and with that support came tests that would show that she could use her own intelligence and reasoning while still being about to sound-board her thoughts with her mum honestly.

"Well, mum, this is what I was hoping for but at the same point I look at this letter and I see something that I had never seen in Harry before. He was quick in responding to my last letter, and while this letter is a little brief it also is rather to the point. Would you agree?" She asked, hopefully.

"Yes dear, it is to the point. What are your thoughts as to his question?" Her mum quickly asked.

"Well, honestly, I think that it's bloody fantastic!" She exclaimed, and upon the mild profanity and the look of equally mild admonishment quickly said, "Sorry mum."

"Hermione, what was the reason for asking me here, tonight?" Her mum asked, once again, with a smile upon her face.

"Mum!" Hermione said almost exasperatedly. "I would think that would be rather obvious. I want permission to pursue my heart without hindrance." She said with a pleading in her eyes that followed the words spoken from her heart.

"Hermione, Harry seems like a very nice boy. From what you've told me of him, he is quite noble, honest, courageous, and cares quite a bit about you from what I was able to read in this letter. The fact that he spelled out his intentions and isn't willing to cross obvious barriers is certainly what the mother of a fifteen year old girl wants to hear. I will have to talk with you father about this for obvious reasons, but I don't think that it should present any problems if you want to date Harry. You certainly have my blessing in this relationship, but again, your father will be the real test. Would you like me to talk to him about it?" She asked in complete seriousness so as to spare her daughter. Jane Granger wasn't apposed to toying with her daughter, however, learned when to do so and when not to. She hoped that this Harry Potter knew the same thing.

"Please Mum?" Hermione pleaded, and was happy to see the brief and honest smile on her mother's face.

Time seemed to pass at a crawling pace turning the time that Hermione's mum left her room. Listening, she followed the sound of her mum and she padded down the stairs and waited. When there had been instances for Roger and Jane Granger to discuss things in regards to their daughter, Hermione knew that it would be hopeless to overhear them from here. She was a patient person in dealing with the parents but they still ultimately had the last say so in what happened with her and she did respect their wishes. In turn, her parents also took time to mull things over and dissect everything logically before coming to a conclusion.

What felt like hours of silent torture for her was in all actuality only a few brief minutes before she heard the stirrings downstairs and the padding of her mother's feet shortly accompanied by the much heavier footfall of her father. The footfall came closer and closer to her as she heard the creak of a familiar creak of a floorboard just around the corner. Whatever the answer was going to be it was coming for her and she had to be patient.

_**Hogwart's School of Witchcraft and Wizardry – Headmaster's Office**_

"Now see here, Dumbledore, you have to reign in the Potter brat and do so immediately before I am forced to take a more active roll in rearing and by right of Minister of Magic, disciplining the boy. He's already caused mass panic in the student body and since their return to their respective homes three days ago. I've received dozens upon dozens of howlers."

"Cornelius, I'm afraid that you've brought that upon yourself when you denied Harry's claim that Tom Riddle has been re-embodied. The fact that the claim came from the boy-who-lived and the chosen one is enough to put your cognitive reasoning under scrutiny. Honest, Cornelius, I understood the euphoria fourteen years ago when Harry had vanquished Tom, but the lack of a body should have put you on alert, not at easy…" Albus said with an air of finality that he had not intended. He noticed some devices that were an immediate cause for concern. "Cornelius, I've just an alarm go off which is an immediate cause for concern, if you would excuse me?"

"Dumbledore, I do hope that you understand that we have not come to a resolution here…"

"And we will not come to a resolution today, or at least now. For the moment, my presence is required elsewhere. Please see yourself out and I will contact you again when we can further explore these events. Good day, Cornelius."

"Albus." Minister Fudge said, inclined his head and tipping his trademarked and familiar green bowler hat, before turning and with a flash of green flame he disappeared back to his office.

As quickly as his one hundred and fifty-six year old body would allow, Albus brought his attempt to the ward monitoring devices that he had on his desk that were attuned to number four Privet drive. '_This is not possible, not this soon.'_ But he immediately noticed that the wards at Harry Potter's summer residence were at a much higher level that he had ever seem them before. In fact, they were higher than he had ever intended them to be and was causing him alarm to no end.

"Fawkes, I believe that a trip to Surrey is in order, would you consider bringing me to Mr. Potter, old friend?" He asked and was immediately whisked away in a flash of green flame only to arrive at the home of Arabella Figg.

"Albus, what brings you to my home this morning?" Mrs. Figg asked while sitting at her dinner table drinking a cup of tea while gingerly eating a raspberry scone.

"Arabella it is so nice to see you again. I'm here to check on the wards at Number Four. My ward monitors are indicating something that just shouldn't be possible. Would you be so kind as to get on the floo network with the other Order members and advise them of a meeting this evening?"

"Of course." Mrs. Figg replied before turning her attention back to her tea and scone.

Albus Dumbledore has seen a great many things in his one hundred and fifty-six years in the world. He thought that with his experience he would have been prepared for what was about to happen next, however as he put himself with one hundred meters of the Dursley residence he was knocked back rather forcefully upon his bottom.

Quickly, Albus Dumbledore adjusted his spectacles and took a look at the wards surrounding Harry's family house. He was taken back, immediately with the complexity of wards. All the standard ones that Albus had put in place had been replaced with more offensive wards. He even found a ward that was keyed specifically to activate a portion of the ground if someone crossed the initial wards which bore the dark mark.

For the first time in nearly fifty years Albus Dumbledore found himself shaking in fear of the unknown. _'Who put these wards up and how?' _He wondered to himself, never noticing the nearly fifteen year old boy with raven black hair and shocking emerald green eyes approach his position, as Harry followed the path down the walkway until he was standing, just in front of his one-time mentor.

"Hello Professor, what brings you here today?" Harry asked honestly curious. Harry secretly remembered that he hadn't done anything to the Headmaster's office at this point in time and knew that the ward detection devices atop the Professor's desk had more than likely went a bit wonky when Harry added the wards.

"Mr. Potter, perhaps you could invite me inside and we could discuss these fascinating additions to the wards around your home?" The headmaster asked strategically. He saw that the boy appeared to be in contemplation for only a mere moment before he looked back at the Headmaster with a small smile upon his face and nodded briefly before turning while beckoning Albus to follow.

Upon entering Harry's bedroom, Albus was shocked to see that this once poorly furnished room was now a replica of the Head Boy suite in Gryffindor tower. That alone would shock him to his core as Albus could not recall how Harry would know what that room had looked like. He fingered his wand tenderly on the off chance that the continual shocking turn of events that were unfolding continued to set him on edge and amaze him.

"Professor, what do you know about paradox and alternate realities?" Harry asked honestly. He could see a flashing gleam in the headmaster's eyes.

"A Time Turner, Mr. Potter? I understand that we allowed Miss Granger access to one year before last but that was returned." Albus said, weighing the young man in front of himself. He quickly noticed that Harry didn't seem as forlorn as one would expect him to be, having Cedric Diggory murdered in front of him and Tom Riddle resurrected in front of him mere weeks ago.

"You're on the right track, however, it's a bit more complicated. Professor, there have been a lot of things that I have had questions about that you have been less than forthcoming with providing answers to. As you can see, I am perfectly calm and willing to discuss this, but at the same time, you also have to understand that I do know a great many things that you probably think that I shouldn't know at this point in time…" Harry stopped suddenly feeling a slight tingle as an attempt to skim the surface of Harry's more recent memories, and Harry, being the son of a marauder decided to have a bit of fun.

He focused his immediate train of though on just the past fifteen minutes, and unfortunately for Albus that had absolutely everything to do with a rather uncomfortable bowel movement for Harry. Whenever the headmaster tried to push beyond those constraints he found himself looped back to the beginning of the fated experience.

"Professor?" Harry asked with a grin worthy of his father and godfather, and upon feeling Albus Dumbledore retreat from his attempt.

"Yes Harry?" Albus replied, secretly annoyed at his lack of being able to break into the young man's thoughts.

"Mischief Managed, sir?" Harry asked, again with a slight chortle of laughter.

"Indeed. Back to the subject at hand…" But he was cut off immediately by what the young man in front of him had done. With a slight wave of his hand the open bedroom door quickly and quietly closed itself and a white flash of light surrounded both that door and the closed window within the room indicating that a privacy charm had been cast. He looked toward the boy again, never minding the fact that Harry Potter hadn't taken out his wand, and looked as the boy's expression changed from bemusement to one of complete and utter determination.

"The one with the power to vanquish the dark lord approaches…" Harry started, and was immediately less than impressed with the expression on his mentor's face change from worry to horror. Immediately his wand in hand, Albus sent a silent stunner which should have easily incapacitated young Harry only to watch the young man hold up his hand and effortlessly toss the spell to the side. "Born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies, and the dark lord will mark him as an equal, but he will have power the dark lord knows not, and either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives. The one with the power to vanquish the dark lord approaches, born as the seventh month dies."

Harry looked at the professor, whom still had his wand trained on him and had looked nervous. Harry had to think quickly and the very first thought that came to mind was the unbreakable vow that had led to the Professor's death during his sixth year.

"I, Harry James Potter, swear on my life and my magic that I serve the Light and my purpose is to stop Tom Marvolo Riddle from terrorizing and taking over the Wizarding world." He said solemnly and with a flash of light he noticed a look of peace and resignation came over the elderly professor.

"You had me worried, my boy. Please let me apologize for the fears of an old man stuck in his ways."

"Professor, I understand completely what your fears are and more importantly will be in regards to certain events. What I need to know is why, with a prophecy of the magnitude in place and looming over my head, was I not better prepared to face what I need to face?"

"We all make mistakes, Harry, unfortunately that is what defines us as human; be it wizard or Muggle. We're not infallible."

"Professor, there are a couple of things that needs to happen and happen rather quickly." Harry said and then proceeded to provide some of the details surrounding the new Harry. He also explained the need to exorcise Ginevra Molly Weasley as, while Tom Riddle's diary Horcrux had been destroyed when Harry punctured it with a Basilisk fang his second year, she had become a vessel for that particular soul piece. He didn't tell him everything, but did let the Professor know that in the future he had been successful in stopping Tom, the cost had been too high and his love ones, lost.

"Mr. Potter exactly how far in the future had you been before coming back to this point in time?" Albus asked worriedly.

"Professor, I prefer not to answer that question. There had been plenty of errors that I can't even admit to everyone and because of that I may have inadvertently set certain things into motion that would probably not have been discovered as a direct result. I do hope that you understand that. While you may very well feel that you are entitled to certain bits and pieces of information, let me just say that my age at the time that I was sent back makes yours a dwarf in comparison and leave it at that. There were certain horrors in that life that I would prefer not to recount and will not do so. The experience that I had was brought back and I will not make the same mistakes and will do everything within my power to peacefully persuade those whom matter to me away from certain paths as well. You won't see the same meek person in me that you had in the past but at the same time I will enjoy my life a little bit more than I had the first time around."

"I see, well, the first thing that I would like to say is that this time I will listen more so than previously. I was going to suggest that you have Occlumency training from Professor Snape, however, having briefly testing your nature defenses, I see that that will not be an issue. I would like to suggest that you may want to assist your fellow students with procuring this ability for themselves and perhaps any other abilities that you feel would help out in the coming year. Harry, I would also ask that you take a look at the wards surrounding, not only your friends homes, and I will make sure that you have someone whom can assist you with making to their homes, but Hogwarts as well. The wards here are just simply mind blowing." Albus Dumbledore said, finally without anything further to add.

"Professor, I would like to spend my birthday with my friends and with my godfather, if at all possible. Certainly you are aware that the wards here will not be breached easily so do you think that you could arrange for me to leave here for Number Twelve Grimmauld Place in London as soon as possible?" Harry asked eagerly.

"Y-Yes, Harry, I believe that we can make an arrangement after a week." The headmaster said, finally standing up and crossing the room. "Until then, Harry, please continue to write to your friends and let them know that you're alright."

"Yes sir." Harry said resolutely as he watched the headmaster disappear. He smiled to himself at the most recent memory of Albus Dumbledore, the Greatest Light Wizard in recent known history staring at Harry in obvious disbelief as he wordlessly and wandlessly deflected the stunner fired at him at point blank range. He looked at the clock, realizing that time had gotten away from him and the lunch that he had been looking forward to had come and gone. The time was 3:55 PM and it afternoon tea was now just moments from now.

"Dobby!" Harry said with, both, resolve and kindness.

"Yes Harry Potter sir?"

"Tea please, and I apologize for skipping lunch…" Harry said, noticing the slight frown that appeared across his tiny visage. "Dobby? If it's not too much trouble, could you please bring me a roast beef sandwich with some crisps?"

"Yes Harry Potter sir, Dobby's being ready for you sir and with that said, and a soft pop, the energetic elf had disappeared.

Things had been happened today, for Harry, back to back without any sense of the events lulling into a quiet. Now, at this very moment didn't appear to be any different. Just as quickly as Dobby had disappeared from the room, Hedwig burst from the window and landed quickly atop his lap. 

Looking down, he noticed the burdened leg of his familiar and quiet untied the expected letter from her leg. Taking the letter into his hands, he suddenly felt a nervousness in his stomach that hadn't been there before. _'What had she said? What was her answer going to be to his last letter?'_

_HARRY JAMES POTTER HOW DARE YOU SUBJECT ME TO THIS VERBAL THRASHING THAT I HAD TO ACCEPT FROM MY FATHER, HE WAS…_

**A/N: Evil cliffy, I know but I wanted to put it here. The next few days will be put together in one chapter with multiple letters from Harry and Hermione as well as letters from Sirius, Ron and Ginny. As always, read and review.**


	8. Chapter 8

**8. Missives Revelations and the Riders of Apocalypse**

_HARRY JAMES POTTER HOW DARE YOU SUBJECT ME TO THIS VERBAL THRASHING THAT I HAD TO ACCEPT FROM MY FATHER, HE WAS HORRIBLY THOROUGHT IN THE THRASHING THAT HE GAVE ME. I'M TOO YOUNG WAS THE FIRST PART THAT HE THREW AT ME WHICH I QUICKLY BATTED AWAY. IT WAS A HORRIBLE SITUATION AND THAT IT PUTTING IT MILDLY, HARRY. I'm tired of writing in capitals so you'll have to be satisfied with a regular verbal thrashing from your best friend in the world and girlfriend._

_Yes, that's right, I'm your girlfriend and my first order, as such, is to put you in your place by putting this to me. Harry, you do have to understand, that when it comes to this kind of decisions, I have to share it with mum and dad. They're my sounding boards so that I don't have to make rash or hasty decisions when it comes to my life. Before you ask, I did not consider you a rash decision. It was rather quick, but I did have to talk to them about this, since I'm underage and gain their permission to pursue my heart._

_Now, don't think for a single instance of a second that you are getting out of the place that I have personally placed you. So that you don't forget, you're in the doghouse. Yes, I will use regular (Muggle) terms because I know for a fact that you understand them clearly. _

_Harry, my dad is very protective of me and that is mostly my fault because I had rarely taken care of myself while at primary school. I did put in somewhat of an effort and while I was mostly… OK, completely unsuccessful in gaining friends there I found that while I was there that perhaps studying was a bit more important. It was important so that I could better find my place in the school and really my place in life. I placed so much faith in the instruction that I was given there that it, naturally, carried over to Hogwarts for a minute second until I met you. _

_I was abandoned, Harry. I didn't have anyone before hand and after being selected to go to a prestigious school for what I had never placed faith in being real, well, I was just lost. That was until you made a very rash decision to come rushing without thought of your own personal safety and make the effort to save me. I am extremely thankful for that decision, by the way._

_HOWEVER, DO NOT THINK THAT YOU WILL, FOR ONE MINUTEST OF SECONDS GET AWAY WITH WHAT YOU HAVE PUT ME THROUGH, HARRY JAMES POTTER. Daddy was horrid and that is the abridged version. He teased me to no ends, but luckily he remembered seeing you our second year and with that he had a smile on his face during my entire time. I would like to think that I would rather face the Cruciatus but you having already been through it would have to gauge a response in regards to it._

_I love you, Harry James Potter. You have been my friend for four years now. You've given me a bit of grief here and there, but for the most part you have been totally and completely forthcoming with your intentions on being just that. _

_After awhile of giving me quite a ration of shite(Yes, I know I've never ever said anything like this whatsoever and if you decide to let Ron see that, well let me just say that you will be more than regretting it. He's been equally loquacious on more than one occasion and I have my due, Harry), he finally caved and told me that you were a good choice and as long as I knew what I was doing then I had his blessing._

_So, now, as your girlfriend I demand to be properly kissed upon seeing you again. You had better find your Gryffindor courage to do such and with vigor. That being said, what are your plans for the summer, and by saying that I mean what you plan on doing now that Mr. Riddle has decided to violate my, now, boyfriend._

_Harry, I know what you come from. Having met Remus and Sirius, I know that you come from a family. Yes, I mean family because both Sirius and Remus are your family. What I personally think that you should do is look at your resources for what they are. You have had Gred and Forge as your friends since first year and they are just as devious as your parents and their friends. Personally, I don't think Voldemort would know what hit him if he was the unlucky recipient of a Marauder prank war, and I think if you were more than a little enthusiastic with what you could possibly do, well, you would completely demoralize his group. Certainly Wormtail would cave within the first three months and you have my five galleon bet to that. _

_So it is it. I love you. I accept you as my boyfriend and you had better live up to the words of your last letter. Do you take my bet? Will you actively pursue the code of your ancestors._

_Lastly, I think that we need a plan for a pursuit of mine. I think that magic revealed itself to certain families for a reason and those families may have paved pathways for that ability to pass its way to other families. It may be that reason alone why we have squibs and muggle-born witches and wizards. But it may be for other reasons as well. Call it natural selection or evolution but we're here for a reason and if the ones that call themselves purebloods had it there way within a hundred years the evolution of the species would find that evolution eliminated for this particular pathway gone. Kind of like what your so-called Aunt Marge refers to breeding. They're breeding themselves into instinction. My question would be who is responsible for it? It would definitely be someone whom doesn't believe that the current pureblood ranks are worthy._

_Harry, if I'm right, then that means that it has to be Tom. He's still just a half-blood and I don't mean to be offensive about it but at the same time according to what you have told me he would have a reason, wouldn't he? Perhaps we should research a bit more into his motivations. I would say we should ask the headmaster, but knowing that he went to Hogwarts, I'm not sure that we would get the best data for our research. Perhaps we should research the other people that actually were his classmates to get a more uniformed response to what we hope._

_I'm sorry, Harry. I got off on a bit of a tangent in regards to what we should do without asking you for feedback. Ultimately, I want to advise you that I went through hell tonight with my dad. With going through that, I remained firm and stood fast with my Gryffindor courage and he saw my resolve in regards to you. I am still your best friend, and hopefully your girlfriend, if you'll have me. _

_With Love,_

_From Hermione_

Harry read this letter over and over again. He couldn't help the sheer joy that it brought him and he wouldn't want to help it because this response had been exactly what he had hoped that it would be. Ultimately, he didn't want her to have a confrontation with her father nor her mum, but at the same time, having gained their acceptance in the relationship had brought more to the relationship then just her acceptance. He was elated. It brought him utter bliss and with that he resolved himself, finally to his other tasks at hand.

He rushed towards his desk, or at least as much as his recently battered and physically abused body would allow. Harry had been exercising his body as much as possible. With Dobby's help with a diet that included high carbohydrates and lots of proteins, he had allowed his body to take on more mass and more energy. Unfortunately, Harry couldn't rely on potions to fix his aches and pains because they would reverse the results that he was hoping for, a stronger body.

Harry knew that he had only a week before he would have to leave this place, but at the same time would not give up this diet for anything. If that meant that he wouldn't eat what was provided for him once he reached Grimmauld Place then so be it. He would continue to work out his body to the point of exhaustion. He would continue to take his vitamins as well as the herbal supplements that was provided by the holistic chemist down the way and if not available due to location would find a chemist who would service him wholly.

At this point however, he decided to break away from the norm from which the planned had been used for from the future and write out a plan for which it would be used for, going forward.

**5:00 AM – 6:30 AM: meditation, working on incorporating Occlumency and Legilimency training and building shields, also incorporating data from Future me.**

**6:30 AM – 7:00 AM: preparing breakfast for the Dursleys.**

**7:00AM – 8:00 AM: Eating breakfast with Dobby and learning all I can about elf magic and customs not assimilated from future me.**

**8:00 AM – 12:00 PM: Physical workout including but not limited to push-ups, sit-ups, chin-ups, jogging around Surrey, hand-stand push-ups, endurance six-inch killers, and four count diamond push ups.**

**12:00PM – 1:00 PM: Lunch with Dobby**

**1:00 PM – 4:00 PM: Dursley chores.**

**4:00 PM – 4:30 PM: Tea with Dobby and again focusing on elvish and wizarding customs unaware of prior to assimilation.**

**4:30 PM – 5:00 PM: preparing dinner for the Dursleys.**

**5:00 PM – 6:00 PM: Dinner with Dobby.**

**6:00 PM – 6:30 PM: washing dishes for Dursleys.**

**6:30 PM – 7:30 PM: Evening job through Surrey.**

**7:30 PM – 8:30 PM: Occlumency and Legilimency training wind down for evening.**

**8:30 PM – 9:00 PM: Sleep preparation and tomorrow planning.**

**9:00 PM – 5:00 AM: Sleep.**

Harry wrote down this schedule and realized immediately that this would be a lot to do, physically. He had never really exercised before in his life. There was the rather frequent examples of him having to flee for his livelihood, however, that was due to Dudley's Harry-hunting excursions. This may even be incorporated into Harry's plan, ultimately, as he rarely felt that anything was doing had been worthwhile until real goals had been achieved.

Harry promised himself later that he would approach Dudley with his plan on getting into shape, leaving his aunt and uncle completely unaware and his cousin well paid for his efforts in helping him achieve these goals.

Harry noticed the clock and decided that he would answer Hermione's Letter in the morning. Each and every muscle that Harry had worked now ached beyond comprehension and with that soreness brought early fatigue. As soon as his head hit the pillow, sleep came from exhaustion.

Unfortunately for Harry the sleep that he managed to find was fitful, and brought to an early end by the tapping that he heard coming from his only bedroom window. Grumpily he moaned and groaned with tension as he crossed the room to see that Hedwig had returned from her evening hunt with something more than just her meal as she had a letter, again, ready for Harry to read. He would have put it off had he not immediately recognized the fancy script of his godfather.

_Dear Harry,_

_I know that I hadn't written in a while and for that I sincerely apologize. A Marauder should never forget his pack. Harry, Dumbledore called an emergency meeting with concerns of your recent increase in power. This has got me worried. I do not want to loose faith in the headmaster but at the same point I think that taking a bit of analysis and deductive reasoning when dealing with anything that he says or does is not advice that I would not impart upon you. _

_Had he known all and been everywhere he would have known that I would have never betrayed you parents, but like all people: Muggle, Witch or Wizard, he is human and as such is not infallible. Neither am I or you, so I'm not trying to say I'm better, when in reality I've been much worse._

_Albus told me that you know this prophecy and for the most part I know a lot of it as your parents had shared it with me and was the primary reason why they had went into hiding. It's you or him who will win and I'm betting on you. You have my full support in whatever you do, but please remember to plan things out and take a logical and observant approach to planning out what you need to do rather than go off half-cocked as I'm frequently known for. I am trying to change that but old habits are hard to break away from_

_Harry, how are your aunt and uncle treating you? Again with the old habits but if you need a grim approach to dealing with their treatment, and I really do want to make sure that you're okay. I've talked with your friends, both Hermione and Ron, and believe it or not Albus Dumbledore and he has advised me, once I confronted him all right and proper, that their assessment of your conditions have been more than accurate. _

_Believe me Harry, if I could have been there for you from day one, I would have. I let my need for revenge from taking my best friends; in James and Lily, away that I let it cloud my judgment in needing to find and make Peter pay. The tears of utter frustration are flowing from me now as I have nothing but hate for my other former best friend. I don't understand, and more than that, I want to and that is what is eating me away and I'm sure that's what has happened to Moony and I can't take that away. It's maddening._

_Harry, I don't think of you as James because I know that you're more of a prankster than he has ever been. You may not remember it but I, and Remus, most certainly do. Your aim is accurate to a fault and your ACCIDENTAL magic had given Lily, Remus and I hours of entertainment. This isn't the sort of thing that you share but you had a bit of a bond with dear ole dad and when it was time to change that rank ole nappy, well… It was always James duty to make sure that you were serviced properly or hell would come to pay. _

_Remember that Harry. I will not go into details for the simple decency sake of it all, but suffice it to say you were quite vengeful as a mini-toddler. You demanded daddy's attention to its fullest and if he was ill-prepared, well, you made sure that your demands were the utmost priority when the time had come. _

_We coined the phrase and made it legend for future mischief-makers, however, you perfected it being that future mischief-maker and left it for the previous to stand in quite and complete awe of you, in your wake._

_I love you with all of my heart,_

_Padfoot_

Sirius. The Siriusness of the entire letter brought him out of the depravity of the sleep that he so desperately needed into a silent lucidity that would not be begged off. Tears streamed down the young man's face but it was a selfish anguish that held the affirmation of mourning this very night. He didn't mourn for the loss of his parents or the heart-felt words that had streamed down the page. His pain was more to the very likes of jealousy towards his godfather.

He was jealous that Sirius could remember these good times when he was left, abandoned, with nothing more than the pan droppings of memories where he could hear his mum scream, 'Not Harry!' and nothing more. He wish to the utter gods of Odin, Corr, and the first mischief-maker himself Loki for the memories that his godfather had described. However, he knew that they would, quite simply, never come. He wouldn't remember them, or have a way of honoring them outside of the mirror and what had happened with Tom Riddle less than a month ago within the Priori Incantatem.

Harry could not recall the sound of his mother's or father's voice without that most recent of memories. He was void of the experience of knowing them and found himself wanting, when it came to memory recall. Now, however, he looked at; and found quite a bit of joy at, remembering the words that float upon the letter that he most recently had the pleasure of experiencing as he read along.

Unfortunately for Harry, the worst of all things possible could have happened, which at that point of time would be the flutter of owl wings as Pig broke the silence of the smallest room of number four Privet Drive. He, quite literally, bounced off of Harry's, still, sleep chest, and fell gingerly into his lap.

Harry looked at the completely exhausted owl as it breached his parameters of a safe distance, which was quite limited at this hour as Harry was quite determined to make his was back to the warmth, safely and solitude of the inner workings of his bed.

That being spoiled now already, he felt himself resigned to the fate that the letter that Pig carried with him would have to be read. He couldn't escape Ronald Bilius Weasley's unrequited and solemn rebuttal in his game of life attempt at matching people to chess pieces declaration and profession of love.

Harry looked at the letter that now sat upon his lap. Harry knew, without needing to know that the tiny owl would need a response and gave, without question, the most opportune place to roost. The tiny bird would not move without the time and knew that his best mate would need a response and that explained Pig hesitancy towards returning home. Harry also didn't have the heart to send the tiny and completely exhausted bird back home to Ottery St. Catchpole.

The only question for Harry at this point was to whether or not to open the letter that was waiting for her from Ron and get the inevitable over and done with or wait until tomorrow and let the poker cards fall where they may. He already knew that when he had called dibs off and made it an every man for himself sort of situation that he wouldn't be putting things off.

Harry also realized that by reading Sirius' letter that there were quite the bit of 'words of wisdom' that he hadn't been prepared to take that were contained within the musty pages. It was time to plan. Carefully, he took the letter, and when Pig didn't immediately leave understood that the diminutive bird was under instructions to await a reply.

_Harry,_

_Hey mate, I know that I was told to await a response from you because of what happened to Cedric, but I couldn't. I know that's probably wrong but at the same time I had to. I needed to know that you were okay at this point in time and I knew that it would be bad form for me to wait. With that, I knew that I would hear from certain parties about that but frankly I could care less. You, my friend, are more important. _

_I hate that you have to go to your aunt and uncle's home and do this, that, and the other thing. It bothers me that you will have no fun while you're supposed to be on summer's holiday because I know that while I'm expected to do a few chores that you are doing quite a few more than I've even though were possible to be assigned to me._

_At this point I have quite a few things that are running rampant in my mind, but the most frequent is why I was found at the bottom of the great lake during your second task when that task was designed to be the one thing that you were supposed to treasure above all other things._

_I find myself ashamed. I'm ashamed because in the greatest sense I betrayed the trust of a brother in arms. I know that we were not at war at the time but in retrospect we really were because of what had happened at the conclusion of the Tri-wizard tournament. You won and did so on complete nerve. Sure you didn't kill He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, according to Dobby, but he's supposedly the most devious and evil wizard according to everyone else. You defied him, and beat him by getting away and I'm very VERY glad that you did. I don't know what I would have done without my best mate still alive._

_I'm a slacker. I know that I should probably listen to Hermione but at times she really and truly gets on my nerves. I think that she does it on purpose and my initial and gut reaction is to be utterly reactionary. I think that I proved that when we were sitting there utterly miserable during the Yule Ball. _

_She was having an absolutely grand time with Victor and looking rather un-Hermione-like on the greater scale and I ripped her through and through on a rather thorough scale by what I said. I also, as I normally didn't see my boundaries, didn't know when to quit. Unfortunately, I didn't know when to quit when the whole Ball was over with and you walked in on us when I let the tips of my toes rest quite uncomfortably in the back of my throat and she lashed out, not only at me, but you as well._

_Listen, mate, I'm not completely dense. I know that you had not wanted to participate in that bloody tournament at that point, but the rage that I felt at her betraying us by trying her very best to make a go at friendship with the other schools clouded my judgment. I'm very territorial. I look at life much like I look at chess. Unfortunately at that time I had quite a few games going on at the same time._

_Hermione is your friend. Yeah, she's mine as well, but I've put more than a few pieces in the way to muck things up and a lot of those things is my own pride and with that being the case I've bullocks it all to bloody hell and back. I know you're more than a friend to her and that has probably bullocks our friendship as well and I just wanted to pluck my Gryffindor courage up and apologize for it._

_I know that I've already said that I'm not going to write her over the summer and at the same point you said that you would. I don't know how to apologize to her for her but if you could, would you please let her know that I didn't mean to push her so far away. I do really look towards her much like I do towards yourself and I hope that I didn't muck up a perfectly good friendship because I took things too far._

_I don't have a lot of friends Harry. I wasn't a very good friend to her. I know that. The only reason I went with you to that bloody lavatory to help was because of you and you know it but I didn't want to see harm come to her. You know that. We saved her but at the same point you had more of the bloody Gryffindor courage at that point of time and I would have never thought to jump atop a bloody troll and put my wand in its nose._

_She's always helped us, ALWAYS! You've always been my voice of reason, ALWAYS! Please don't think MORE little of me because I had a VERY Ron moment and said something before I thought. I'm beating myself over it every minute of every hour of every day. I just want my best mates, here; at my home, doing the very things that we would be doing in the common room. _

_I want to feel normal and right now I don't._

_Absolutely Sincerely your Best Mate,_

_Ron_

Harry looked at the letter in complete horror. This isn't the way things happened before. There was a lot to think about but he couldn't think because there was too much and quite frankly he was exhausted. The letter that he read was a complete relief but at this point he didn't feel relief.

Harry himself, when he called dibs on a relationship with Hermione, had felt a pang of jealousy. He wondered to himself if that was the right feeling to feel, now. He knew that the relationship that he had with Ron would have been different if the reaction that he had expected from Ron would be different. Unfortunately, with the letter that he had received, it wasn't the expected response.

Morning – Number Four Privet Drive – _Saturday_

"FREAK, MAKE BREAKFAST NOW!!!" Harry's fat whale of an uncle bellowed from the other side of his secured bedroom door which was immediately followed by the familiar sound of a series of locks being rapidly placed in the unlocked position.

Harry tumbled out of his bed rather unceremoniously to land atop the bare wooden floor of his sparsely furnished bedroom with a grumble that was due more towards the lack of sleep that he managed due to his rather late night of missive perusal. He righted himself before fumbling for his glasses and them stumbled himself towards the doorway.

Upon entering the hallway, he could make out from the closed bathroom door that the water had just been started for a shower, and he lazily turned and made his way down the stairs, through the living room, crossing the dining room and finally into the kitchen. He fell into the familiar auto-pilot of removing the eggs, rashers of bacon and bangers, as well as tomatoes. He quickly fried them up one way and then the other in a manor which spoke well of his expertise in the kitchen.

He returned back towards the refrigerator and retrieved an onion, bell pepper, cheese and mushrooms and began quickly dicing to prepare his aunt Petunia's standard omelet, which she always just referred to as adequate or sub-par but edible.

Upon finishing the cooking he quickly loaded Vernon and Dudley's plate, each, with six eggs, 6 rashers of bacon, six bangers and two whole fried tomatoes, before setting his aunt's omelet and absent-mindedly placing a wandless warming spell on them before heading back to the serenity of the smallest bedroom at Number Four Privet Drive.

It was only five minutes after he returned to his bedroom that he heard the water stop in the lavatory across the hall, and then; once again, the series of locks being systematically returned their previous position of where they were prior to Harry's audible morning alarm that he likened to that of the mating song of the Northern Pacific Humpback whale.

With a soft pop that Harry had hardly had time to recognize, a diminutive in stature; but big in pride with a job well done elf by the name of Dobby dropped off a plate packed to the point that when Harry saw it made a lung for it for a fear that it would topple over.

The wondrous smells that came from his desk finally brought Harry out of his sleep-addled mind and he beheld the eggs(over easy), bangers fresh melons, and waffles with a pitcher of iced pumpkin juice just off to the side with what could only be awe.

"I have to get his recipes!" Harry exclaimed to himself, but at the same point, and to his shame, Harry hadn't noticed that Dobby hadn't quite let the room at all.

"I'm sorry Master Harry Potter sir, but I cannot be givings house elves recipes. They were mum elf's and are to be passed down. I hope that you'll be understanding?" Dobby asked hopefully as he attempted vainly to look inconspicuous while straightening up the small room.

"That's quite alright Dobby, I understand. You're cooking it top notch, however… Just so you know. Thanks." Harry said honest in his resolution that he would just have to figure it out on his own. He wouldn't be sharing those recipes with the Dursleys, that was for sure.

Harry, all in all, took nearly forty-five minutes diving into this monstrous breakfast before beginning his work out. That in and of itself took a mind of its own as he had let time get away from him and before he knew it had worked out through lunch and found Dobby in front of him looking rather put out.

"Is something wrong Dobby?" Harry asked the little elf, noticing the near blind rage that was burning behind the great big eyes.

"Dobby is not making lunch for Harry Potter only to have it go to waste. Harry Potter sir must eat his lunch before he can be properly served his tea!" Huffed, a very put-out looking, Dobby. Harry sighed deeply at this, and the memories of his life-long companion in arms with the shorter but very power elf reminded him of what his friend was truly capable of.

Truth be told, should the house elves be allowed to attend Hogwarts School of witchcraft and wizardry, well they could be sorted in any of the houses. The true natures of the founder's beliefs resided in all of the elves in great supply, however, the Hufflepuff loyalty was something that the house elves had in spades.

Resigned, yet again, Harry turned to his desk to see a single plate with a huge roast beef sandwich with all the trimmings, crisps and a tall glass of what appeared to me iced lemonade. Upon drinking the concoction it was confirmed to have been identified correctly, to Harry's delight. The sandwich was fresh and hot, and thinly sliced as well atop freshly baked pumpernickel bread. The crisps were a plain potato, however dusted lightly with salt and malt vinegar.

Once again, Harry sat before an empty plate with a feeling of contentment that he had never felt before while within the walls of Number Four Privet Drive. He sat back in his chair at his desk and re-read Hermione's letter. Once again, a smile broke across his face at the fact that he did now, in fact, have a girlfriend. It was a feeling of completion that he had never experienced. His other self had, in fact been in love with her, as well, but the feeling now was much different because it was filled with a hope that hadn't been present in the other time line.

'_This time will be different.' _He thought to himself as he quickly grabbed a quill and parchment and thought about his reply. Then, after moments sitting there, with his hand hovering menacingly above his inkwell, he dipped the tip of his quill and began.

Dear Hermione,

First of all let me start this by apologizing for putting you on the spot. I, once again, looked towards what I had hoped to accomplish without looking at the bigger picture and as a direct result, you were made to suffer, even if it was in jest from you dad. I am very glad that you've accepted to be my girlfriend and I am glad for that.

Let's get onto some other subjects for a second as I'm sure that you wouldn't want me to change too much but let's get onto the tasks that we have set before us. First, I think that you're on the right track as far as the evolutionary process of us magical people. However I think that perhaps rather than allow it to occur naturally we've divided our culture for survival sake and has become what we now find ourselves in. This is worthy of further thought but we have more pressing things to look at that need to be at the forefront.

Hermione, I need you to find all the books that you can on Occlumency and Legilimency. Occlumency is the art of being able to guard one's mind against outside attack. Legilimency is its counterpart, the art of invading one's mind. I need you to be well versed and practicing this if at all possible. I will send Snuffles an inquiry in regards to what he might have available to him where he current resides and have him send it to you.

Next, I think that you should also concentrate on planning. I know that you're more introspective than I am. Where I would tread where angels fear without a second thought when I believe that a friend or love one might be in danger, you're much more thorough in what to do and that may be the difference between living and dying at the hands of death eaters.

Also, I shall be by your home after a weeks time, under watch of friends of our beloved headmaster. I have recently come into some knowledge myself about the art of warding and have been given the opportunity to do so at the Dursleys, your home and the Burrow, as well.

I can't wait to see you. Until then.

All my love,

Harry

Harry looked over the letter, before sealing it, once he was safe that he was satisfied with what he had written. There were other things that he had wished to say to her but found that it would probably be better said in person rather than in writing. Placing her letter at the corner of his desk, he turned attention again to the letter from Sirius. Having re-read it with a much more lucid mind, he took another piece of parchment out and began his reply.

_Dear Snuffles,_

_I think that at this point in time that it is time for the Marauders to reform. Now, before you think that this is something that an adolescent looking for fun and pranks in the light of the current adversity we are facing; well yeah, there's that. There's also the fact that we're looking at an oncoming war between Voldemort and the rest of us to the likes that the wizarding world has never seen. _

_What do we do when we're faced with an enemy that we've never been able to defeat? Prank the bloody hell out of his lot and get them caught, that's what. But, we need to be careful and cautious and plan the hell out of things. Obviously I don't fully trust the headmaster, having my fore-knowledge, however, that doesn't necessarily mean that his heart isn't in the right place. _

_The road to hell was paved with good intentions, however, and I don't have time for purgatory at the moment, Snuffles. I know that Professor Dumbledore would face the killing curse and the Cruciatus curse and use transfiguration and conjuring to place barriers in their path while stunning an opponent. This isn't going to work in a war where the potential for an enemy with superior numbers is all throwing killing curses or has a division that is solely throwing back enervate while throwing killing curses. _

_The bottom line is that you cannot think that one can win a war fighting like a policing action. The French and American learned that during The Vietnam Conflict, and the Order should have learned that during Voldemort's first attempted reign of terror. You have to be decisive._

_Snuffles, I would like you and Moony to work on the Marauder's Map version's 2, 3 and 4. Basing them on Hogsmead, Diagon Alley and the Ministry of Magic. I think that it would be a good idea if we had people focusing on these areas in specific as they will be key targets. Additionally, it may be important to key them to known death eater's as well and set up an alarm on the maps, should any or all of these key's be tripped._

_I'm fine. The Muggles are the same as they always are when I'm with them, but for the most part, as long as all of the chores they assign are complete then I'm left to myself. I'm training my body and Dobby the house elf is insuring that I'm properly fed. Nothing more for me to do than train and think._

_Additionally, due to my fore-knowledge I have a demand of you. If you find yourself in battle with death eaters, do not speak to them, especially Bellatrix Lestrange. I know that she's your cousin, as is Narcissa Malfoy, but trust me on this. It would not be the time to distract yourself from getting the job done and gloating at the same time. Take her out first, gloat while she's in chains before the Wizengamot. If there are things that come to light later after the heat of battle or in the background, fine, but in battle, your enemy is your enemy and deserves no mercy. The point to anyone's side in war is to become the victor. I hope that you can promise me that._

_Lastly, I suggested that my girlfriend; Hermione, and this is just between you and I, and Remus if you see him, that she might contact you and see if you have access to books on Occlumency and Legilimency. Please search your library and have them available for her and look for a letter shortly._

_You loving godson,_

_Harry_

Harry looked down at what he wrote to his godfather with more than a little trepidation. He hoped that his godfather would look at the words that he reads here and see more than the ramblings of a fourteen year old boy whom had watched a friend murdered and look at it as a real and viable solution to the upcoming dilemma the wizarding world was facing. He placed the letter in an envelope, sealed it and placed it atop the letter he had addressed to Hermione.

This was becoming repetitious but Harry, wanting to have Ron's letter fresh in his mind, re-read the letter and decided that a different approach was needed. Taking a fresh parchment, he dipped the tip of his quill into his inkwell and began writing furiously.

_Ron,_

_I'm glad that you didn't want to wait for permission to write. It shows that you're still capable of thinking for yourself, even on summer hols. Yeah, I know what you mean about me being here. I'd much rather be hanging out with you and Hermione, but at this point I'm already working on the summer homework and I've had plenty of time to think about what happened at the end of last year._

_Ron, the chores here aren't a bother. I'm used to it and it has made the time pass relatively quickly. I know what you mean about the lake, and you have to face the fact on a couple of things. One, you're fifteen and I'm fourteen. I'd never really been allowed to have any friends while I was growing up so you're my first friend, and that put Hermione at being my second. The two of you are my best friends._

_Ron, I got away from Voldemort on luck and nerve as well. It just happened that our wands are brother wands and enacted a spell called Priori Incantatem, which prevented his killing curse and surrounded us with a cage of pure magic. I don't know how many times that can last, but I may have to look at getting a second wand so that I can duel properly should I find myself in that kind of situation again. And, let's be honest, he's been after me every year since I accepted to attend Hogwarts, so the chance that there will be another time is probably great. _

_Ron, you're not really a slacker, you just don't apply yourself and you like to have fun. It's part of being a kid. You do apply yourself to things that you believe are important, like Quidditch and chess. I do hope that you decide to go out for the team next year and that you're practicing at home._

_Speaking of Chess, you know you're brilliant at that and at strategy and I need you to start working on a side project and apply your thoughts of strategy towards what what we're learning at school and how we could use it should we face a battle. You know that it is coming and I think that with you applying the strategy that you often use on the chess board into real life we might have an advantage in the future._

_Ron, this is where I have something to tell you and I'm not sure how you'll take it. I've asked Hermione to be my girlfriend and she's accepted. I did it just over the summer through letters sent to Hermione. I'll have you know her father gave her a bit of a hard time about it because we're so young but he did agree to allow me to date her. I hope that you're alright with this._

_We're all a good team, and yeah, you've stuck your foot in your mouth with the arguing with her more than enough times, but at the same time, I think that if you apply your strengths towards a worthwhile goal, such as helping with this stratagem, she'd be off of your back. I'll send her your regards as well as the apology._

_I know that you said that you wouldn't write her but maybe a letter or two during the summer and offering the apology yourself would show the courage that your head and heart is in the right place towards repairing the friendship. Write soon and let me know what you think about what I said._

_Your best mate,_

_Harry_

Harry sealed the final letter and sighed. He hoped that the letter to Ron would go over well. He didn't really know whether it would make much of a difference, however he hoped that it would. The one thing that he was hesitant about was Ginny's reaction to the new dynamic of his relationship with Hermione. His future self recalled that she and Hermione had gotten closer this year, but at the same time it was due to Ginny seeking advice on how to get Harry to notice her.

He hoped that this wouldn't drive a wedge between him and the Weasley's but at the same time there was something that still needed to be done about Ginny. He had to find a way to get the Horcrux out of her head.

Walking over to Hedwig, he tied the letters to tether on her leg. Hedwig rubbed her head against Harry's cheek and playfully nipped at his ear before taking off into the night from his sole window. Harry looked at the clock, not realizing the time. With a pop, Dobby had another plate waiting on his desk. This time it was roast chicken with mashed potatoes and steamed green vegetables.

"Dobby, you're fattening me up quite nicely. You know that?" Harry asked with a smirk.

"I am being a good house elf, Master Harry Potter sir." Dobby said with an equal smirk before popping away.


	9. Chapter 9

**9. Week in review – Part I**

Harry looks down at his callused hands, sighing deeply with relief that his efforts hadn't been for naught. Ten thousand years of knowledge helped him make some of the best wards for keeping death eaters out of Muggle born and Muggle raised homes. The rune-etched crystal s would do many things good and terrible things. Good in protecting the innocent, terrible in the ramifications of poor choices made by death eaters. There were absolutely no thoughts put towards that of pity or remorse when he designed the wards. Retribution for the innocent and safety for those like Hermione and himself.

First, the wards would detect the presence of a magical human or creature. Harry didn't want to have them simply look for people as Tom had many disposable allies. Detection was the first line of defense. The next level was of course a notice-me-not spell, so that if there were magical being in the general area, which was completely unlikely, the notice-me-not would push the alleged magical away from the protected area.

Should the initial line of defense be penetrated by a highly-skilled being, well, that is where the fun began. Harry set each crystal up to detect the dark mark. Anyone who had the dark mark had a death sentence which was rather unique. The crystal was just that but at the same point its power source had been initially Harry's blood, magic and the blood and magic of those intended to protect. The second layer was that it would attach the wards themselve to the magic of those whom bore the dark mark and utilize their own magic as a primary power source.

As long as the death eater was within range of the crystals they would be drained of they're magic. If they used magic within range of the crystal, the drain upon their magic would be exponential. If an unforgiveable curse were used in the range of protection, well, that unfortunately would be likening magic to water, and the body of a death eater that that of a colander. The magic would drain, in the matter of seconds.

Harry even added one final level of protect to the residence, and he thought it to be absolute genius. Regardless of the distance of the attacker, should a spell cross the plain of a protected area from that of a non-resident, the spell stream would act as a reverse Acchio, and drag the castor into the ward-zone for assessment.

Harry was pretty satisfied with the over-all developed idea. He put forth a lot of hard work in the development of the crystals and received the tools necessary to produce the crystals in the least likely of sources, his uncle Vernon Dursley.

Harry used a diamond-tipped micro drill used for etching electronic components. Unfortunately for Harry, however, is that each of crystals had to be done individually and one at a time. They could not be duplicated via magic, and so that was the major focus of Harry's week.

Harry didn't slack from his other duties. He was still working out in the mornings, which still included push-ups, sit-ups jogging, free weights, and light boxing training in the basement, while the Dursleys were away. However he spent hour upon hour devoted solely towards his work making the crystals.

Harry's top and absolutely obvious choices for areas to protect had been Hermione and Ron's homes first. He was still a little hesitant to protect Ron and Ginny given the other time line, and finally had to have a literal mental argument amongst himself before he resigned, again, that he shouldn't condemn them for the crimes of alternate Ron and Ginny. That resolved, the next choices had been simplel He followed immediately by the homes of Luna Lovegood and Neville Longbottom. Harry didn't need his inner-circle of friends to be put in immediate danger.

Second priority had been immediately covered by his godfather Sirius Black and uncle by everything that matters, Remus Lupin. Via correspondence, Harry mentioned a need for two-way communication to be able to get in contact with someone should the wards be tripped, and with immediate replies Harry was provided a relatively new magical antique and creation of the Marauders, a simply mirror. Harry had also be given instruction on how to use the device and after his brief conversation with his godfather, Sirius agreed for both himself; and by proxy, Remus, in the creation of several mirrors which would provide direct communication to help, should an attempted attach take place.

Fortunately, because of his uncle's help in providing the drill, Number Four Privet Drive was the first house to receive Harry's protection. By remarkable coincidence, Harry was able to test those wards the very moment that they snapped in place as an insidious sniveling sniveler, Severus "Snivellus" Snape happened to be monitoring the home for some unknown reason, and took the opportunity at the most inopportune time to attempt Legilimens upon a seemingly unaware Harry Potter.

Harry couldn't help but smirk as his found his good profession flung from an unknown location from beneath the now discarded invisibility cloak and held in place, hovering a foot off of the ground at the very front of Harry's summer home, well within the confines of the notice-me-not spell.

"Well, now, you have me, Potter, what do you intend to do… Not that I think that it should be much coming from a goodie goodie arrogant Griffindor such as you… So like your fath…" He tried to continue his rant but found himself twitching in abhorrent agony, as his magic began to seep from his pores.

"Good afternoon to you as well, Professor. Such a lovely afternoon for a stroll. Fancy me, sitting hear all alone and relatively bored, did you come for a chat? Perhaps some afternoon tea? Manners. Your bastard half-blood master always was quite cross with my lack thereof. Would you like one lump… or two, Snivellus?" Harry said with a complete feign of utter innocence on his face that belied a confidence that the boy had not previously possessed in the Potion Master's presence before.

"Well, then, Potter, you've had your fun, and would this be in term you most certainly would be scrubbing caldron's the muggle way, be it September 1st or not. Rest assured that the headmaster will…" He started, but then found that the more that he tried to struggle against his invisible confines that he was held more firmly in place. This hadn't been the plan. He was just going to take a bit of a sneak peek into the boy's unprotected mind and provide some tidbits of information as to his mental state to the dark lord, while reporting the true information to Dumbledore.

What Severus "Snivellus" Snape failed to read at this particular time was that the Harry Potter standing in front of him wasn't the same boy that he had been almost assured to divine in the past. Severus' ability at probing had been one of his most subtlest of arts, and he had been taken away from that task without so much of an effort. This wasn't right at all. Severus was beginning to doubt what he had previous surmised about the Potter brat. Dumbledore had been forthcoming with the way the child had been raised, and he had almost giggled, albeit privately, at the small part of revenge that he felt against the boy's father.

He found himself, now, dangling. He was at the mercy of the boy's whim, and found the experience something akin to what he had found himself to when facing a particularly affronted werewolve whilst attending Hogwart's School of Witchcraft and Wizardry as a student, himself. Life debt. Damn, he silently cursed himself. He found himself, now, humbled in front of a nearly fifteen year old school boy; owing him now one life debt but; by hereditary inheritance, two.

"What do you want, Potter?!" Severus finally and practically bellowed. He was at his wits end with the situation, as it presented itself at, currently. He knew that there were, in fact, many things that Harry James Potter might ask of him to do.

"There have been many things that I've wanted over the years, Professor. How about a professor whom actually cared to impart wisdom upon his pupils, for one? There was a certain allure that you had alluded to during first year of brewing glory and bottling fame, but when it came to your teaching skills, which only came to writing directions for us to follow without the slightest hint of what do to with the ingredients, prior, well, color me a tad bit disappointed. I've looked into you, deeply Severus Snape and I've found there something, well…" Harry paused dramatically for a moment with a look of silent contemplation. "Lacking."

Harry paced back and forth, in front and in direct view of the dangling professor seemingly torn with the options as the presented themselves to him. He could do a great multitude of things to the readily available and reticent victim. Severus found himself, hopefully silently, soiling his robes. The dark lord himself didn't have the power to do what he was now bearing witness to and that, quite frankly, scared the shite from him utterly completely.

Suddenly and without the presence of a wand whatsoever, Harry waved his hands in front of Severus Snape and he found his forearms bare. He was able to move his head but that was about it and what he saw was a symbol of of his utter shame. He watched in abject horror as the dark mark that had been with him now for more than fifteen years changed from that of a skull with a snake barreling from its mouth to that of a rather arrogant looking James Potter, hazel eyes and all, blowing him a raspberry.

That wasn't the worst of it, however. There was more to his shame and his body violated against him. He immediate felt a certain form of lubrication that filled his posterior and widened to make ready at the same point shivers enveloped his body prepared for the largest orgasm the man's body would never see. Every time that he would look upon his most hated rival's image he would receive the same reaction.

Unfortunately, for Severus "Snivellus" Snape, every time his OTHER master would call upon him, he would receive the burning, look upon his arm to see the same metamorphosis occur. He didn't get that information, however. What he found was Harry's Holy wand, now in his hand with a look of complete conviction.

"OBLIVIATE!" Harry's voice resounded into oblivion and Severus Snape found himself standing across the street looking at that insufferable brat's longing face staring out from his room at Number Four Privett Drive longingly and lost. Nothing to report here, he thought angrily to himself and with a crack of apparition, he was gone at the end of his shift.

The whole week was a relative myriad of Order members standing outside of his house. Harry had long ago set up wards to keep onlookers entertained. Each and every one of them were always manned, or womanned, given Nymphadora or Hestia's gender with a pocket Sneak-a-scope which would normally allow their prying eyes. They would only see what he wanted them to see. Lonely Harry, sickly Harry, frustratedly masturbating Harry, in the two girl's ever embarrassed shame. There was even one instance where a vindictive Harry sent a hungry Hedwig out for a meal to Sturgis Podmore's eternal horror.

Harry Potter leaned back against his transformed California King bed, which coincidentally appeared to be smaller than that of a crib mattress to outside looker's-on, and smiled a truly happy smile. This week had its ups and its downs but it had most certainly been entertaining. His Metamorphmagus ability had most certainly led to the crimson blushes that adorn a female Auror and an Unspeakable.

_**Granger Residence – Brighton, England UK**_

Harry's trip to Hermione's house was a disaster. He had all of the material that he needed to perform a proper warning, however he didn't take into concideration that his more recent relationship might not stand the tide once Hermione saw Harry Perform magic outside of school.

"Harry James Potter!" Harry heard her familiar voice and quickly turned around to see her head sticking out from her upstairs bedroom window. She wore a look of inquisition, befuddlement, and wonder all in one. So much for the silent approach, Harry resigned. He facial expression, while all the above-mentioned descriptions were accurate, also held ; for a brief moment, joy at the sight of him. "Do not move, I'll be right down."

Nodding Harry found himself alone, again in her front yard, but that moment was just a fleeting passage in time as she rushed from the window, leaving it open before scrambling for proper evening attire. He heard her stumble and fumble, and curse, which brought a smirk to his face at the thought of her usual retort to Ron's Bloody Hell. _"Language, Ronald." _At the brief but quick sound of feet bounding down stairs, and then the quick opening of the front door in front of the house.

Before him, clad in a house coat, which obviously covered her familiar pajamas and oddly enough perfect replica Monty Python rabid rabbit slippers from Holy Grail. Harry stifled a laugh which earned him a quick smack atop his head and a look of indignation from his best friend and recently, through vast correspondence, girlfriend. Her stern look was quickly replaced by slight embarrassment, as she caught where Harry was looking, which happened to be her feet.

Hermione shifted her feet back and fourth, while looking at him the whole time. He couldn't take his eyes away from the footwear. She coughed a couple of times becoming more and more incomfortable.

"Holy Hand-gernade, Hermione, he whispered where only she could hear, and she immediately fell into a coughing/giggling fit.

"Honestly, only you, Harry, not my choice of footwear aside, which was a Christmas gift this past year from Daddy, what are you doing here, and where is your guard?" She asked, eager to find out why her boyfriend whom was supposed to be in Surrey, was now in Brighton, standing less than three feet away.

" I might have given them the slip." He offered, weakly.

"Might have, Harry?" She asked looking at him, dead in the eye.

"Well, it was this man named Madungus Fletcher…" He offered, again, looking back down towards her feet.

"Continue."

"Well, he might have been passed out, drunk, on my front porch at the time I left, and I might have, accidentally, mind you, kicked him a couple of times in the head. Purely chance, you see."

"And you didn't think to check on him after you accidentally kicked him a few times in the head?"

"Well, his state didn't chance. He didn't actually wake up all of a sudden. He sort of just laid there. I did, in my own defense, cover him back up a bit, as his feet were kind of lying exposed."

"Harry, what the bloody hell…" Hermione started.

"Language, Hermione!" Harry said, almost automatically, before he quickly covered his mouth.

"I agree with your boyfriend on this one, Hermione dear." A feminine voice called from behind her. Hermione whipped around quickly only to be caught in her mother's ire.

"Sorry mum." She said quickly.

"S'OK poppet, just don't make it a habit. Mr. Potter, so nice to see you again." Jane Granger said, as she passed her daughter by and extended her hand in welcome. "To what do you owe this honor?"

"Thanks, Mrs. Granger for bringing us on topic. I've come to add wards for you and your family. He explained as he reached into his pocket, retrieving a small box, and with a flick of his wrist his wand was now in his hand. He tapped the top of the box, and it grew in size.

"Harry, you're going to get in trouble. You know you're not supposed to do magic outside of school until we're seventeen." Hermione said worriedly.

"Hermione, do you have your wand on you?" He asked quickly, and at her nod, she produced it from her robe pocket. Harry touched the tip of his wand to that of Hermione's a muttered a string incantation that Hermione only vaguely recognized and was surprised with a brief light purple hued flash whom incased her wand for a matter of five seconds before it dispersed.

"Harry what have you done? Hermione said, looking at her quite sternly, now.

"Simple, Hermione, I removed the ministry's tracking spell on your wand, like I did to mine, previously. Going, give it a shot." He said, watching her the whole time. She stared at him in complete disbelief, but extended her wand, pointing it at the large crate that Harry had brought with him and uttered, clearly.

"Wingardium Leviosa." The crate rose a few feet off of the ground and stayed where she wanted it before returning it back to the ground. She remained quiet for a few minutes waiting for a ministry owl. When it didn't come she looked at Harry for a long hard moment before the corners of her mouth twitched only slightly into that of a innocent smile.

"Now we ought to have a better edge at being able to practice magic like the rest of the pure bloods, yes, Hermione?"

"You're brilliant, Harry. You'll have to tell me where you learned that spell and what you have been up to, of course. She looked at him and he smiled at her honestly, this time. This was the Hermione he knew, his best friend and when she was excited she was completely animated. She engulfed him into a very heart-felt warm hug. She released him after giving him a brief peck on the cheek. Looking at him now, she remembered the box. "What did you mean about wards, Harry? What's in the box? Can I help? What do I need to do?" She finished a string of questions, not giving him a moment to compose himself, and normally would be a bit flustered, had her not heard each and every questions.

"We're going to be installing anti-Death Eater wards, Hermione." He lifted the lid to the box and extracted one of his crystals and passed on to Hermione. He then took out an etched crystalline bowl, which had some of the same runes etched on it as did the other normal crystals. "These are ward stones, and the basin is for a quick activation ritual. I'm afraid that I will need a few drops of your blood and I will provide some of mine as well, and we will submerge the stones in the basin before placing them. There is no need for incantation. These are border stones which will be submerged into your yard. Of course you will help as you and I will be the only one's keyed into your wards, at least magically speaking. We'll do your parent's office, as well."

"Harry, you're going to have to tell me where you got all of this information. You haven't taken Ancient Runes and this, " She said holding up the crystal in front of her, "This, Harry, is well beyond seventh year work."

"Hermione, I promise that I will tell you everything that I can, and that I trust you more than anyone else in the world, but now is not the time and on your front lawn is most certainly the most secretive of places. Rest assured I didn't come across the knowledge I possess by some dark and seedy means. Do you trust me, Hermione?" Harry asked, almost pleading with his eyes. She looked into the depths of his emerald gaze and without so much of a thought, answered immediately.

"With my life, Harry, and my heart." Smiling brilliantly at him, causing him to release a breath that found himself unaware that he had been holding.

The made quick work with the basin, soaking each of the crystal in a potion mixed with both Harry and Hermione's blood, plus a few added ingredients. The half-acre estate was covered in no time and as the last of the crystals had been put into place a visible dome shown and completely incased her home before hiding itself. Harry was relieved.

Walking with Hermione back toward the house they held hands, fingers intertwined and Hermione smiled brightly as her mum brought out a tray of refreshments. Placing it down on the back patio table. Hermione smiled brightly at her mum, before turning to Harry.

"Harry, you must try my mum's tea and savory biscuits. They're absolutely to die for although not too terribly Brittish, I'm afraid. Sitting down at the table Harry inspected the biscuits and there appeared to be your average brittish biscuit, however one bite told the different. Cheddar with chive and hints of rosemary and garlic. "Brilliant."

"Cheddar Serving Sticks, indigenous of Southern United States, in particular, Savannah, Georgia. The tea is a Chinese green with sperimint and lemongrass." She said, indicating for him to try the tea as well. He took it with two sugars, when the dentist wasn't looking and found it refreshing as well.

With a flick of his wrist, his wand was out at the ready again. A silent spell indicated that it was already 7:30. Silently cursing himself he looked at Hermione and she could tell that his stay today was over.

She walked him to retrieve his box, but before he shrunk it down he reached inside and pulled out a small pocket mirror and handed it to her.

"Say my name clearly into the mirror and I will appear in it. Let's talk later tonight?" Harry asked.

"Rest assured, Harry, you won't get that far from me. You still have some questions that I need answering." She said before leaning her head into him and catching him off guard, for once and his lips crushed slowly into his. He felt her mouth open slight, offering entrance. Harry slowly and deliberately explored her mouth while folding his arms gently around her. Braking for fresh air, they leaned their heads together.

What Hermione didn't see was Harry wandless and silently he shrunk and pocketed his crate, and something else that shouldn't have happened. He Apparated away, leaving her all flustered.

"BOYS!" She said with a huff, tapping her still rabid rabbit clad foot before making her way back into the house.


	10. Chapter 10

Week in review – Part II

_**Ottery St. Catchpole – The Burrow**_

Harry found himself face down in the dirt. This wasn't someplace that he found himself unaccustomed to being at, because he was her quite often whenever he used wizarding forms of travel. Usually, he grumbled; mostly to himself, tried to find something that resembled dignity in the vain hopes that nobody had witnessed his folly and quickly righting himself in case there was anyone nearby. Fortunately, upon this arrival, Harry found himself to be blessed and alone.

He knew that there would be consequences. There were always consequences. What he did to Hermione, while minor, was unforgivable on that same minor scale. He rushed off without the most proper of proper good-byes. But, to be honest with himself, had he been proper then he wouldn't have found himself with the courage to actually pluck up the bullocks and leave. He had jobs to do which is why he found himself not far from The Burrow.

Harry had a lot of things that he was thinking about at the moment, but now his mind was a jumble. There were betrayals from his long and distinguished past that still plagued his mind. Ginny had betrayed him by opening that ghastly diary and then later opening the Chamber of Secrets. Ron had been more subtle in his jealousy fourth year and his abandonment in seventh, but then this had been a second chance of sorts. He had planned it carefully. Sometimes, and this was what had ached in the center of his being, the most carefully laid plans find themselves in ruin. He couldn't let that happen. Among many other things Harry found himself in later years to be somewhat of a control freak. Harry hoped, now, that while those later years had provided him experience, knowledge and with that power, that his years, now, that he looked forward to would be numbered and laden with happiness.

To say that Harry Potter was on the miffed side would be a complete down-play upon what he was really feeling at the moment. One thing stood out about all others. Harry was important to Albus Dumbledore, but everyone else was expendable. A tragic loss for the greater good, Harry could almost hear Albus rationalize. It made his blood absolutely boil. He tried to rationalize that Albus, thinking himself wizened and ancient, thought of himself as the Leader of the Light. The problem with that rational is that, in war, there wasn't any light or darkness, only varying shades of grey, on the obscure.

War was just that, war. Its purpose, to kill one's enemy and destroy their ability to wage war. Without that singular perspective all hope would be lost. Albus was lost with the certainty that he believed anyone whom wished to seek redemption within their heart would truly be granted a second chance. The problem with his train of thought was that this had become his mantra, or dogma. Therefore, he believed that everyone, deep down, sought the means to make their wrong things right. In battle, Albus held back, and it cost lives. In the cold after battle; and in the anticipation of an upcoming battle, he approached people as if they were pawns. With that mindset he allowed himself detachment from real life horrors. With that firmly in mind, he was still shocked at the level of preparedness of Hermione Granger's family home.

There hadn't been a single ward in place at the Granger residence. No thought whatsoever to the possibility that her life might be in danger. Voldemort was back. Harry thought that had been perfectly clear upon returning with Cedric Diggory's body after the third task of the Triwizard tournament. He had told the headmaster about Voldemort, and while Cornelius Fudge had been present. His pleas fell upon deaf ears in spite of Barty Crouch Jr., a man thought to have died in Azkaban prison year's prior, lay in a bed mere feet away. Harry Potter had serious feelings for Hermione and Albus knew, yet when it came to providing her protection there wasn't even a guard.

Harry temporarily distracted himself with thoughts of Hermione and what he had done to her before leaving. It brought a wide grin to his face that actually made his cheeks hurt. The smile was unstoppable and uncontrollable. He hadn't known Hermione to be deliberate in her pranking, but then thought of her absolutely exquisite mind. She as "_scary brilliant,"_ to quote Ron. There would be consequences, he knew. It wouldn't be as bad as one would expect, but he had an inkling of an idea of what kind of Marauder Hermione would be, if so inclined. Looking up the path, Harry caught sight of movement from the shadows and immediately recognized the figure approaching as one Bill Weasley.

"Harry, it's good to see you. Would you mind explaining to me, again, what we are doing tonight and why Mum and Dad, let alone, Ron, Ginny or the Twins couldn't be privy to this arrangement?" Bill asked, suspiciously. The suspicion and anxiety in Bill's voice could only make Harry sigh in hesitation. He thought that he could trust Bill, but then again, with his past, he had to play things with constant vigilance.

"Good to see you too, Bill, with your succession of questions, I thought for a moment I was standing in front of a male version of Hermione." Harry answered back with a smile. He thought for a moment, while measuring Bill on his response. Which way should I go with this and I need to be quick. Bill's parents are exceptionally loving ones, but at the same time very proud. "How are you parents when it comes to receiving charity?"

"Ah! I see. Yes, I supposed that might be the reasoning. Well, let's see what you have and what you plan on doing." Bill said, watching Harry as he pulled a small box. He placed it on the ground and then stood back. With a wave of his wand, he quickly enlarged it and pulling off the lid. Harry grabbed a handful of crystals, before handing one carefully over to Bill.

Bill looked on in shock at one of the crystals in his hands. There were Egyptian glyphs interwoven with ancient Elven script, but it didn't stop there. Gobbledygook scripts were present there as well, interwoven, but not overlapping. Bill looked at Harry now in complete and utter shock. He dropped the crystals as if they burnt him, and quickly reached for his wand, pointing it between Harry's eyes, with shaky hands.

"Who are you?! Answer ME!" He said nervously only to be shocked again as Harry just stood there and smiled at him. For a moment, before willing his hair to shrink exposing the now faint and familiar lightning bolt scar, Harry didn't say a thing.

He decided to step back, offer himself as non-confrontational and see what Bill would do. Bill's wand never wavered. They were at The Burrow, Harry rationalized and Harry knew each and every member of that family to be protective of the other members, save Percy the git. Sighing, he took a step back but that proved to be the wrong thing to do entirely.

"Stupefy!" Bill shouted, and while the range was in close quarters, Harry immediately dove out of the way, while wandless and without incantation cast a cone of silence.

Bill immediately countered with an attempt to through up his own set of wards and was immediate shocked as Harry rapidly and with no immediate sense of having to struggle through them ripped his wards to shreds. Bill answered with a string of curses that Harry knew to be Egyptian. Bill wasn't going to go quietly, and the curses were clearly in the dark arts category, which slightly shocked Harry. Not that he knew the curses, but that Bill had to bullocks to actually throw them. Harry quickly countered, randomly, curses that came his way, while maintaining a detached attention to them and dodging when applicable.

Bill looked at Harry absolutely horrified. He expected to be able to break his defenses almost immediately. To have, both, his wards and the spell strings taken apart as if they were an inconsequential house fly made him take stock of his life expectancy.

While Bill didn't let up one bit, the problem that he was finding was that the strings should have worked. They have worked in situations with dark wizards in the past, and many of them having been death eaters. If this was a death eater he was facing, he feared that his family wouldn't survive the lone attach.

Getting frustrated, now, not wanting to leave his family, Bill delved deeper and deeper into his knowledge of curses to bring down the enemy. Darker and darker he went, and when he saw that the bone crushing curse and the entrails expeller didn't work he broke, "AVADA…"

"STOP!" Harry said, and with that a force was unleashed within him that literally through Bill back, which scared Harry to the point that he had to beg his magic not to hurt him. He watched in horror as Bill was through thirty meters across the field and closer to the front gates of The Burrow. Seeing that Bill was immobile, still conscious but unable to move. He approached him slowly seeing the look of panic in his eyes slowly change to resign.

"Bill, relax…" He said, quietly. Seeing him unconvinced, he took a deep breath before continuing. "I swear on my life and my magic that I am Harry James Potter, born to James Harold Potter and Lily Marie Evans July 31st, 1980." Harry watched as a flash of blue indicated that the magical oath had sealed. He watched as Bill visibly relaxed.

"This..." Bill pointed to the one crystal that he managed to still have in his grasp. "This shouldn't' even be possible."

"Well, it isn't yet. Let me say, it isn't possible now, but it will be. I've created them to help. To help you... your family, and my friends."

"I am going to need a bit more in the form of an explanation." Bill said, trying to appear reluctant, but Harry saw through it and immediately, with a wandless gesture, a flash of magic produced another impenetrable cone of silence.

"In 1998 I killed a Voldemort possessed Ginevra Weasley and created a Horcrux from the only thing that I had on me at the time. I thought that I had lost everyone. Your family… my friends… the headmaster… everyone was dead. When I finally was able to destroy Voldemort, also known as Tom Marvolo Riddle later that year, well, I had a lot of time on my hands and did nothing but research. I wanted to find a way, anyway to go back and right what happened to a more amicable situation. Ten thousand years, Bill, but I was able to send my Horcrux back in time. Unfortunately, as things don't always seem to go the way one would hope that they would go. The Harry in front of you was not the first recipient of my Horcrux. It went to a relative in the year 996 A.D., or to be more precise Godric Gryffindor received it. With that Horcrux, Godric managed to learn a great many things. Some things he shared, some he didn't, and with the knowledge that he gained, he used it, when Salazar Slytherin went wrong. He put it in the trust of the house-elves of Hogwarts to wait for this summer to deliver. There was one purpose of this Horcrux, and that was to provide the knowledge to myself so that I didn't have to go through its creation again."

"Harry, it's a bit much to take in, but for the moment, let's say that I am willing to believe what you are saying, and don't think for a moment that we won't revisit what you mentioned about my baby sister." Bill warned. He looked at Harry, really took a good hard look and noticed that this wasn't the same boy that he had seen at the end of the tournament. His eyes were filled with both a confidence and a resolve. Smiling for a moment, "How'd you make the crystals?"

"My uncle works for Grunnings, which is a Muggle producer for a wide variety of drills. I used a diamond-tipped micro-drill, and had to hand-produce each of these individually."

"Blimy Harry... That must have taken ages." Bill said, and when Harry held up his hands revealing the heavily calloused finger tips, he knew; at once, that Harry had done this himself. "Tell me about my sister, then?"

Harry nodded resolutely, before looking at Bill a moment. "Remember the events of her first year? Did anyone ever tell you what really happened?"

"I believe that there was some business having to do with a cursed diary." Bill said in a questioning tone.

"One of Voldemort's Horcruxes." Harry said quietly.

"Horcruxes as in plural?!" Bill blurted out looking towards Harry to see a nod of affirmation. "How many exactly did that blighter make?"

"Six, including the one that used to be in this scar." Harry said pointing at the faded scar on his forehead.

"Used to be?"

"Only one Horcrux per person, when I released mine, instead of a soul piece taking over the host, I was flooded with ten thousand years of information. Kind of like a Muggle program called, "This is your life." All the information flooded me, not to mention a slight boost in my magic and poof, Tom's tidbit gone and a more happy Harry."

"Okay, sorry for getting off topic, but if Ginny was dealing with a Horcrux in a diary, and you destroyed said diary, how exactly did my sister, or does my sister get possessed in 1998?"

"She kept a page after she discarded the book and before I could destroy it. A single page in that book undamaged was the only place that the Horcrux had left to return. She must have it hidden somewhere, either here, or back at school. It will be something that I'll be looking for, this coming up year."

"Well, if there's anything at all that you would like for me to help you with, in that regard, please let me know. I would prefer my sister healthy, dark lord free and happy. Besides, you know that she's always had a thing for you."

"I am seeing Hermione, you know?" Harry retorted.

"Ron won't be too pleased with that one, I can assure you. He was doing nothing but talking about Hermione and how beautiful she looked at the Yule Ball, since his return home. I'd only been here today to tell mum and dad about the ward upgrade, but he was still going on about it."

Harry was fuming at this point. Ron had assured him that he was okay with the fact that Harry and Hermione, collectively, are now a couple. That, now, seems to have been a lie. Harry didn't have time for games and had to formulate how to deal with young Ronald Bilius Weasley. He couldn't have petty jealousy come into play here, not this year of all years. Too many things could go wrong if that scale was tipped again.

Ron was a time bomb, and now, he apparently thought that he could play life itself as if it were a game of chess. There was already one master manipulator that he was forced to find a way of containing and he didn't have time for an amateur.

"Harry, are you alright?" Bill said, gently placing a hand on the younger man's shoulder.

"Yeah, Bill, I'm fine." Harry lied, looking up at Bill's face, and at Bill's raised eyebrow, he conceded. "Alright, maybe I'm not fine, but I will manage. I still plan on doing this for your family even if Ron's going to be a prat in the future."

"And Ginny?" Bill wondered.

"Bill, I have the ten thousand year old memories. I'm not sure what to say about that. I don't think that it was her fault or choice, really." Harry said looking at Bill's disbelieving face, before revising. "Honestly, I have no claim to your sister and am currently in a relationship, besides it is a bit awkward dealing with what I have to at the moment. You sister has, at this point, not been really able to hold a conversation with me whatsoever without a stutter or placing a body part into a dish of butter." Harry finished, which brought a bark of laughter from Bill.

"Harry, I'm sure that Ginny couldn't help it, after all Mum used your story as a bedtime fairy tale for both Ron and Ginny. They've grown up their whole life being told of your great deed." Bill finished but watching his face sink lower and lower knew that this hadn't been the best way of putting things.

"So what you're saying is that both of your younger siblings are nothing more than fan boy and girl, and despite any headway that I may have made with Ronald or Ginny for that matter, they're always going to see me as a fifteen month old baby whom was placed in his crib by his soon to be dead mum and didn't have a clue as to die properly when the green light struck me in the head? Bugger that, Bill. What kind of devious plan can a fifteen month old cook up to defeat the darkest Dark Lord that the country has ever seen, could you clue me in because my first memory was being placed in a cupboard at the age of three for accidentally wishing for Dudley's teddy, which he had been neglecting at the time."

"Easy Harry," Bill tried but saw that a head of steam was coming at him full force. "Don't shoot the messenger to spite the message. This was what they had grown up with and you could probably attribute their acts of awe or jealousy towards you as being akin to Robin Hood or King Arthur. It was a bedtime story."

"More likely than not that many parents used to tell their children after what happened on Halloween. I haven't a clue what happened outside of a brief recollection of a woman screaming and a flash of green. What isn't being told is the way that I was raised, and believe me, had the parents had the full account of my life it'd be marketed as a horror story, not a fairy tale. Look Bill, I don't mean to take it out on you but since I've come into this wizarding world I seen most people in awe of me for something that I cannot remember and the celebrity status is really a huge joke."

"You're a celebrity regardless. Didn't you mention something about an ancestor receiving your Horcrux? I'm sorry, but what was his name again, because it sounded vaguely familiar." Bill couldn't help his sarcasm but it wasn't brought forth angrily.

"Point taken." Harry conceded. "Look, let's get to work, and get these crystals in place. I really hate focusing on my life or lack thereof, and I did come to get a job done."

"Alright, what do you need from me at this point?" Bill asked a bit hesitantly.

"Show me the lay-lines for the wards. We'll install the crystals ten meters outside of the wards, so that they don't interfere with your existing ones." Harry said, without use of his wand, summoning crystals to hover in a great circling orbit just slight above his head level.

"Here's the outer most point of the wards."

"OK, you walk the boundary. I'll walk ten meters outside. Let's get this done as I've still a few more houses to hit tonight."

"Where else are you planning to visit, if you don't mind me asking?"

"Well for today, I've got Luna Lovegood and Neville Longbottom to visit before calling it a night. I've got the Abbotts and Bones tomorrow, the Creevy's, Finch-Fletchy, and McMillan on Friday."

As they walked the border of the Burrow, Bill watched as ever so often one of the orbiting crystals would rocket into the ground. He was completely amazed at Harry at this point. He knew that Harry would be powerful, but at the moment he was demonstrating a confidence and power that he estimated to far exceed that of even Albus Dumbledore. It was the nonchalant way that Harry went about his job that really made him notice that while what he was doing shouldn't been something that a nearly fifteen, year old should be doing with a wand, let alone wandless magic. He, himself, could only perform the simplest of spells learned in first and second year without using a wand and even then it took a great deal of power to produce anything note worth. Secondly, it left him exhausted.

"Bill?" Harry asked, looking at him with worry. Noticing that Bill's far-away look suddenly focused on him, "Um, I'm done… Are you alright?"

"Sorry about that Harry, it's just that you've kind of laid a bit much on me and I guess that I am still taking it in." He admitted sheepishly.

"It's still just me, Bill, still just Harry. So, how are you getting along with Fleur, then?" Harry asked with a sudden devious glint in his eyes, and upon ending his question noticed that even Bill Weasley, curse-breaker extraordinaire was not immune to ears turning red. Harry barked out a bit of laughter, before stifling it at Bill's scowl. "That good, then? Well, tell her I said hello and that I wished her well. I have to get to Luna's now. Take this…" Harry said, handing Bill the two way communicating mirror.

"Wait." Bill said, suddenly sounding somewhat panicked. Harry turned towards Bill, whose appearance matched the sound of his voice. "Um, not that I don't trust you Harry, but how can we be sure that this works?"

"Listen, Bill, if it's reassurances you're in need of, that these new wards will do what I say they will do, then give me just five seconds."

"But…" Bill started, but immediately Harry raised his hand as if to ask for patience.

"Four… " Harry stated and paused, watching the agony of anticipation that was clearly etched on the face of William Weasley. Taking in a deep breath, Harry reached into his pocket. He placed his hand on a very special rune stone, activating the sequence which would call a very special guest.

"Three…" Harry said, and then insured that both he and Bill were within the boundaries of the Burrow's wards. It wouldn't do well for a demonstration should the intended spell not be intercepted by the newly installed wards. He watched Bill closer still. Bill was bristling now in a way that reminded him of his much larger uncle.

Two…" William's flesh could, now, not be distinguished from that of his hair. Harry thought that he looked somewhat demonic and had he been the sort of person whom was inclined to be afraid of that sort of thing, he wouldn't still be standing here.

"HARRY!" Bill yelled now, looking as if his head might just explode at any moment.

One…" At the sound if incoming apparition, Harry immediately took a defensive stance. The hairs on the back of his neck were prickling and standing on end.

"POTTER!!" Severus Snape screamed upon making eye contact with his caller. Harry made a diving motion, and for a moment thought that this clever, in his mind, rouse wouldn't bear fruit. Then, Harry watched with a sense of utter incredulousness in Snape's predictability as the tall and somewhat greasy man whipped his wand, took aim and sent a silent spell which could only be Sectumsempra.

William Weasley paled when the wards acted just as Harry described them to have. Severus was yanked into then hovering a good two meters off of the ground. He looked at Harry with a new awe. He watched as Harry, with lightning quick reflexes pulled out his wand and quickly banished Severus out of the ward, knocking the man unconscious in the process. A quick Obliviate and instructions that he had just missed Potter later, Harry turned to Bill looking for acknowledgement.

Upon receiving it, he turned around and walking back until he was outside of the ward lines and popped away, landing in Luna's front yard.

"What the bloody hell took you so long Harry Potter!?" Luna screamed, catching Harry by surprise while nailing him solidly between the legs with a kick that announced once and for all that she wasn't holding back a thing.

A/N: I think that is a good place to leave this chapter.


	11. Chapter 11

Week in Review Part III

Ottery St Catchpole, UK

"The Nargles and Wrackspurts are converging against you Harry, surely you must see that what you want to… no… wish to happen will never come to pass. You can't bet against the fates, Harry Potter and expect to come out on top. They will never let that easily happen. It's not in the cards. It's not in the tea leaves. It didn't happen then, and it will not happen now." Luna Lovegood said with an undertone that he hadn't heard since he came back into this time, and then those words echoed within him mind for millennia.

Luna Lovegood stood above the prone body of Harry James Potter, whom had just Apparated to her home in Ottery St Catchpole for the nefarious act of outfitting her home with wards that would certainly keep out the most clever death eaters. She knew this. It was in the heavens above, written in the stars, and it had happened over and over in the various and numerous realities that she knew as fact, existed.

There was nothing that could be done to stop this plan from happening again, and for Luna this was a sad fact. Harry wouldn't listen to her, she knew. He wouldn't listen to advice be it valid, based solidly in the real world. She looked at him now, and he was taken aback by what he found in her usually dreamy eyes. There was pain. There was sorrow. There was a deep longing in her eyes to make things right which was so clearly wrong, he knew she thought. There weren't words that he could convey that would change her mind about his actions that he knew should transpire.

Harry took a deep breath, because he knew that dealing with Luna Lovegood would probably be one of the hardest things that he would have to face. There was no lying to the girl, not that he was particularly good in the area. He was the farthest thing from an expert in misdirection, but he knew that he could pull it off, when required. Unfortunately, he also knew that he couldn't pull it off when it came to this audience of one.

She saw right through him. She knew him better than he knew himself. There was... history. There was a history that he had found within the binding and pages of a day planner that carried part of a soul piece that just so happened to belong to him. There was nothing that he could do that he could fathom, that would be possible for him to convey that everything would be alright. He had already seen it even as he brought the thought to the front of his mind. Before making that thought an action and uttering the words, he could already see her counter poised and ready upon her unmoving lips.. He had seen it in her eyes, and with the sorrow that took home and root and waited patiently for his arrival. She knew him. She had been that other her that had lurked in the waiting time where he felt alone in his misery.

Harry Potter tried desperately to push pass the pain that he found, now, rested firmed in his testes. There was no pain that was quite so incapacitating as a high velocity limb passing unblocked through the uprights. The pain hurt at first, like a dull ache that reverberated and with the echoes against phantom walls only built again and again against the hollow until it left the male without the ability of rational thought. The only thought that was left was of the pain, the pain that she had caused with an initial action.

He looked at her, now, through eyes which had become blurred with tears. An automatic reaction caused by the trajectory of force. He wiped his eyes in the only way that he knew how. Of course, it looked childish, but that couldn't be helped because there was no saving face when testicles suffered.

Once his vision had cleared, he found her there, sitting calmly, looking at him. The look in her eyes was something that he had come to become accustom to. She was patient, and usually fair, but at the same time the look in her eyes could be construed as anything but understanding. Her eyes, now, held an intensity that he had not seen in anyone else that he had ever met, not even Tom Riddle.

Luna Lovegood looked completely and utterly pissed off. She wasn't happy and that was apparent. What's more, she wasn't happy with the course of action that was currently in the works and orchestrated by one, Harry James Potter. The outcome that he hoped for was a noble one and one that she would have condoned if she hadn't already foreseen the outcome. There was tragedy and the worst part was that Harry didn't see that the tragedy was her picking up the pieces of his shattered life. She had done it before. She had always been the one in the realities that she knew of to help him, even if he didn't particularly care for the help. The fact of the matter was that he did thank her after the fact, more often than not, and she didn't want it to happen again.

Unfortunately for Harry there was one thing that was clear for her that he just didn't see. He was trapped. He was trapped with his perspective of what Luna had ultimately hoped for because the Luna that he knew, and in his reality, had a thing for his best friend, Ronald Weasley. What he didn't know was that she had gotten over this quite a long time ago with what Harry had accomplished and taught her.

"How?" Harry managed to ask her in a high pitched voice that wasn't quite his out.

"How?" Luna repeated in a distant voice that Harry immediately recognized as an aged voice that was all too familiar.

"How did you get back, Luna?" Harry said, now, getting a bit more irritable now that the fog of pain began to subside.

"Manners!" Luna screamed, and immediately re-doubled her efforts to inflict pain, sending her foot again in a place that it just shouldn't be in at that velocity. Smack, it crashed into its intended target and once again Harry whimpered with negative reinforcement. "What would dear old Tom Riddle say if you forgot your manners? Manners are essential Harry to the simplest of coexistence. We must coexist for we are all minor parts in the universe, even if you cannot see the Nargles. Do they not exist? Do they not serve a purpose and even if that purpose is unclear to you it is only that way because you lack the sight to see what is in front of you very own eyes."

"Luna…" Harry started but almost immediately regretted it. He knew something about her and knew that it was fruitless to argue with her because she was right. She was always right, to his eternal shame. No matter what his plans were to be, without her, he was lost and he knew it. He needed Luna to help here. Unfortunately, in this situation, he knew that his expected outcome wasn't something that she would particularly like.

"WHAT!!" Luna practically screamed, which scared him. There wasn't much that ever scared him, however, in the end it had always been the women in his life which always had such unexpected results and Luna was, by far, the leader in this area.

"May I speak?" Harry simply asked and stopped. He didn't dare say an additional word because he knew that it would only lead to pain. He sat. He waited and looked at her, waiting for another blow to lay waste to his manhood. He was surprised to see her rationalize his question and, again, simply waited for her reply.

Luna looked at him with a critical eye. She knew that he was up to something but at this point her anger had gotten the better of her and she knew it. She also knew that letting her anger get the better of her would be a loss in the realm of this argument. She needed Harry on her side. She needed him to see. However, she doubted that he would and with that doubt came the anger. The anger, when that happened, generally won.

Luna knew that he was there with a purpose and had a notion of what that purpose was. Unfortunately, she also had a knack for consequences. She knew the reaction of each and every action and reaction, and knew, most of the time, how to misdirect actions so that certain events didn't create a paradox in time.

The problem that she was faced with at this time was that Harry, himself, was a paradox. He had deviated from the timeline in sending himself back, and she had knew that this would have been a possibility. She had hoped that it wouldn't because it could have insured nearly ten thousand years of friendship. Something that she knew she needed. She needed him. She knew that. He knew that on a level as well. She just needed to show him.

Harry silently watched Luna give the smallest of nods acknowledging his earlier question, before she stepped away from him and turned her back to him. Taking a deep breath, he stood and slowly walked the distance between them.

Luna's silence unnerved him. Her normal playful personality was gone. Standing there beside him was the Luna that he had left all those many years ago. His only friend, his confidant and his partner in everything that mattered were all titles that the girl had rightfully claimed for herself. She had been there when there was nobody else.

"I'm sorry." He said, looking at her and noticing the twin trails of tears streaking slowly down her cheeks. He turned to face her, and wiped the tears from her eyes. "I have to do this, and I know your argument against it very well. You could have Ronald and the way that you wanted him…"

"Wanted…" she whispered and let that trail off. "Harry, you cannot trick the fates. You will never win against them. What you did. What we had done for millennia will catch up. They're only silent now because they're enjoying the show that we are providing. They will never stop manipulating and you had been be prepared for what happens. You've already been warned by William Weasley of Ronald's intentions toward your _girlfriend_," She said girlfriend as if it were something of distaste.

"Girlfriend, Luna. Is that the problem? That I chose her? That I mourned her for so long…" Harry said, but was immediately cut off by Luna whom immediate pushed him back onto the ground.

"YOUR GIRLFRIEND IS DEAD! RONALD KILLED HER, YOU KNOW THIS. THIS ISN'T THE SAME HERMIONE!" Luna screamed at him, looming over him once again as if ready to attack.

"You're wrong." Harry said silently, as if almost pleading.

"Biologically, you are correct, but you've meddled with time, Harry Potter. It's life experience that shape us into the people that we are meant to become. You've altered those experiences and she is becoming someone else entirely. Butterfly wings, Harry. Your actions have consequences and you're not at all prepared."

"I am trying to save lives. I'm trying to stop Death Eaters." Harry said seeming to find himself incredulous against this argument. He stood up , brushed himself off, and once again approached Luna. He wasn't prepared for her next argument.

"Don't you love me anymore, Harry?" Luna asked, quietly, looking him directly in the eye.

Harry looked at her. He really looked at her and immediately regretted doing so. His regret came from one simple fact that he had forgotten about the young girl standing in front of him and that fact was that she had the ability to read him like an open book, and that he couldn't lie to her. Faced with that, him sunk his head in shame.

"Luna it isn't like that and you know it. If I didn't have feelings for you I wouldn't be here in the first place. You are one of my top priorities with this protection so please let me get this done." Harry said, feeling a wave un anxiety wash over him. He had for the first time, since establishing his relationship with Hermione, thoughts of another enter his heart. The problem was that while he did have very strong feelings for Hermione, Luna had been his life companion for a very long time.

"Go on then, get it done." Luna said with a small slight smile on her face. That smile only lasted the fraction of a second that it took for Harry to take his eyes off of her. She was still very upset, but now she was rational.

Harry reached into his pocket, retrieving his trunk where he kept his crystals stored. Quickly taking out the portion that had been divided and set aside for the Lovegood residence, re-shrinking the trunk and pocketing it he prepared to start his work never seeing Luna retrieving her wand which had been tucked behind her left ear. The brief smile that had previous adorn her face now gone.

Now, there are many things that Luna Lovegood had been called during her time at Hogwarts, as most of her fellow students thought her to be barking mad. Mad, meaning to be insane, loony Luna Lovegood. Harry, had never treated her as such and the way that he had talked to her, just now, bordered on her receiving the faintest echo of a whisper of a thought that alluded her to believe that he would question her sanity if she didn't do this.

Without incantation Luna began flinging stinging hexes towards Harry. This put the boy on edge where for the briefest of moments he hesitated and received a nasty sting on his bum. Not to be dissuaded nor detoured from his course of action he continued to fling the warding crystals in the air whilst also attempting, rather poorly, to evade contact with another assured stinging hex.

Harry's pattern around the parameter of the Lovegood home became erratic, or so he had hoped. Unfortunately, Luna Lovegood was brilliant in just about all things, especially when it came to patterns. She adapted to his courses, and soon enough Harry was yelping again as he sent another crystal sailing into the ground.

Luna's anger was not a blind rage at this point, she was calculating each and every maneuver that she made, all the while shrugging of articles of the various clothing that she was wearing. Her butterbeer necklace had been the first to go while marking it landing quickly and carefully, and then sending another stinging hex which hit its mark on Harry's left buttocks.

Her left turnip earring soon followed however the hex that accompanied it just missed Harry's right thigh, and he was on the move. Removing the right earring, she clipped his shoulder which Harry followed up with a diving role. This was something new to the mix and demanded immediate attention. Not being swayed from her course she immediate flung three more stinging hexes and made adjustments based on his evasion.

When she ripped her dress in to two separate pieces although those same two pieces fall to the grass top of her front lawn, Harry began to take notice. Harry was, after all, a hormonal teenage male, however upon seeing the lace of her bra and panty set fought against it with an effort that he didn't previously possess.

Harry did try to desperately distract himself. He knew Luna. He knew her well. He knew her in the classical sense. He knew her in the carnal sense as well. He felt the caged beast within himself lurch forward with a speed and grace he had only dully remembered that he had. It would be there, of course, he tried to rationalize. It would claim her as his own, by rite. It was his, but he fought against it desperately. His effort to fight against it was something that he had hoped wouldn't be futile but there she was. She was there within the confines of her knickers and with those knickers he had hope.

She wasn't bare. She hadn't managed that. He sighed with relief that he didn't have to bare it. He knew that if she had been then he would have to test the resolve that he didn't think that he had possessed at the time. Sighing, he felt his head lurch forward with relief but with that relief bore despair.

He heard it. He didn't want to. He prayed that he had heard it but his ears and memory betrayed him, the cowards that they were. He knew the female undergarment that hid her secret treasures. He knew that they were metal clamps that hooked upon them self and when she pulled. Those metal clamps held firm for all that they could. They put up a fight but in the end he heard them screaming as only the could bring but the mutiny that came with their relent was overwhelming.

He looked down at her in his horror and saw that her hand had plucked hard between the double under-wire. She pulled and she pulled and Harry heard her scream from within her breath hoping again hope that no one had. He had, to her dismay, and with her efforts and with her pulling the hooks moaned in defeat and gave forth the fruits of her labor.

Luna had been many a thing. Loony? Sometime, but that was only because it was something that she had pushed forward with much effort and with the hopes that it would mask what and who she really was. It was with that effort that she had bore the weight of one Hermione Jane Granger.

She hadn't bore that weight quite yet, and thankfully to Harry Potter's meddling in things that he should have well and kept out of, she probably wouldn't have to, but that didn't keep the memories of what her future self would have had to have witnessed. She was rude, spiteful, jealous; at times, and not a very nice person, to boot. She was jealous of Luna at a party that would happen this year and solely for the simple pleasure of Harry's ear.

Luna had been Harry's date and that would be her lone accomplishment of her social life for some time to come. He had been nice. He had been the perfect date and for that she had given him a simple chaste kiss as a good night.

She had hoped. Well, she had hoped for a great many things but like with her life and the ups and downs that accompanied it, there had been a long down time as nothing did come from it for a while. That had been truly disappointing. But what had been more disappointing was the betrayal from her best friend Ginny Weasley.

Ginny had a full out snog session with her man and that just pissed her off more than anything else. But t hat wasn't the only thing. There were plenty more. She had forced her way into his life and in the end cost the light side so much. Dumbledore. Ginny couldn't be honest. She couldn't. Her dishonesty was as natural for her as playing chess had been for her brother.

Luna was atop Harry now, straddling his waste as her bare c-cup breasted pressed hard against his face. She watched the inner turmoil within him. She knew that she could push things further but this was really only a test of his resolve and commitment to the relationship Hermione Granger.

"TELL ME YOU DO NOT LOVE ME!" She said with a forcefulness that had scared him.

Harry was not exactly expecting this to be a long trip, and now it had been longer than he cared to stay. Being beneath Luna wasn't something that he could say he ever thought would have been a bad thing. They had a history, but at the same time that history; which she also remembered as well, was something that he was in the process of attempting to re-write.

He could understand her frustration, having the knowledge of that history in her head. They meant a great deal to one another. Now, she was naked, on top of him. She was grinding into his pelvis whilst attempting to smother him with her bosoms. He was a fourteen nearly fifteen year old boy with a very overly developed and slightly younger attractive girl on top of him demanding to be told that he did not love her.

It was the oddest thing that call his resolve back to him. He felt her erect nipple brush against his lips, begging entrance for him to suckle. He pushed with all of his force toppling her from him before rolling back, swinging his legs over his head while pushing up with his hands to flip himself from being horizontal to vertical.

She looked up at him, truly startled that he would do this to her for a moment, but noticed that he still hadn't said the words. Sighing deeping, she pushed herself up off of the ground to find herself standing in front of him in all of her naked glory without a hint of embarrassment.

"Harry…" She started but with the raising of his hand, she immediately understood he meant for her to be silent.

"I can't, OK?" He asked in an almost pleading voice, and upon her recognition of what he was saying, he continued. "I've loved you longer than anyone really ought to do, but you have to know that she was really and truly important to me and had been the one true love of my life. That didn't make my love for you any less important but, you cannot do this to me and expect my already confused and mixed and jumbled emotions to side with you. I'm with her Luna, and I love her. Understand that or don't but do not ever put me into the position that you just put me through."

With a wave of his exhausted hand, Luna's shredded clothing knitted themselves back together. The oddly bent hooks set themselves to right and her clothes dressed Luna Lovegood with a will of her own. She smiled at him as her turnip earrings gently placed themselves into her ears. She laughed gaily as butterbeer cork necklace lassoed lightly back into place around her neck.

Harry reached into his pocket, completely done in from this experience with Luna, taking the small mirror into his grasp before taking it from his pocket and instinctively handing it to her. She took it without question, watching him take unsteadily step towards her. He didn't know why he was doing this, considering all the trouble that she had just put him through. The sound thrashing he received in and of itself spoke these actions to be barking mad. He leaned in a gave her a quick and chaste kiss on the cheek.

Harry proceeded to turn and limp down the path leading back towards the road, never noticing that Luna silently followed along with him with silent tears brimming in her eyes. Once he got to the road, he turned to her, reached up and gently wiped her tears from her eyes and offered her a honest smile that reached his eyes.

"If you need to reach me…" He started, but she raised her hand to his lips, silencing him and telling him she already knew how to use the mirror.

Neville Longbottom was getting nervous. He had been expecting his friend Harry Potter well over two hours ago to arrive. Harry was late. That wasn't something that he was expecting. He sat in a chair which adorned the porch at Longbottom Manor. He had been here that entire time.

Periodically, Neville's grandmother, whom he referred to simply as Gran, would come and check on him. She, herself, hadn't seen Harry Potter since just prior to the loss of both of his parents and had even been present for the birth of both Harry and Neville at St. Mungo's Hospital.

"When were we expecting Harry, Neville?"

"Two hours ago. He said he'd be here around Four in the afternoon. I'm beginning…" He stopped at the tell-tale sound of apparition.

Neville looked up to see a figure that he knew at once to be Harry Potter standing just on the outside of the gates surrounding the manor. Neville immediately stood up when he noticing a very wobbly Harry Potter whom appeared to have recently had the crap kicked out of him wobble even further before falling face first into their unrelenting front gate.

"GRAN!"

A/N: Well tell me what you think. It's been a long time coming and I wanted to get this where I was happy with it and I think I am.


End file.
